VacationSelector
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken
Vine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley, Mendoza
MendozaVine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley

Photos: Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Mendoza by David, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Interlaken or Mendoza?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Interlaken for

  • getting around
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Interlaken’s own page.

Choose Mendoza for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Mendoza’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Interlaken 30, Mendoza 6: Interlaken leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Interlaken 25, Mendoza 68: Mendoza leads by 43 points.
Culture & sights. Interlaken 8, Mendoza 30: Mendoza leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Interlaken 15, Mendoza 40: Mendoza leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Interlaken 97, Mendoza 83: Interlaken leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Interlaken 78, Mendoza 52: Interlaken leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Interlaken 72, Mendoza 42: Interlaken leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Interlaken 80, Mendoza 48: Interlaken leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Interlaken 22, Mendoza 33: Mendoza leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Interlaken 8, Mendoza 56: Mendoza leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Interlaken 15, Mendoza 33: Mendoza leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Interlaken 40, Mendoza 55: Mendoza leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Interlaken and Mendoza.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Interlaken
41match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

Mendoza
Best match
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Mendoza in July

15 °Cdaytime high
2 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
InterlakenMendoza

Where the figures come from

Interlaken has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre). Mendoza: 1991-2020 normals, Mendoza Aerodrome (8.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureInterlakenMendoza
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshSpanish
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112117 or 911
Elevation571 m769 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ)8 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureInterlakenMendoza
City population6,123127,160
People per km²1,4242,355
Museums within 10 km31
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Interlaken or Mendoza somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.