VacationSelector
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle

Photos: Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License.

Interlaken or Puerto Iguazu?

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

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • beaches

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

Choose Puerto Iguazu for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Iguazu’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, Puerto Iguazu 5: Interlaken leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Interlaken 25, Puerto Iguazu 28: Puerto Iguazu leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Interlaken 8, Puerto Iguazu 9: Puerto Iguazu leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Interlaken 15, Puerto Iguazu 14: Interlaken leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Interlaken 97, Puerto Iguazu 95: Interlaken leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Interlaken 78, Puerto Iguazu 33: Interlaken leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Interlaken 72, Puerto Iguazu 55: Interlaken leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Interlaken 80, Puerto Iguazu 54: Interlaken leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Interlaken 22, Puerto Iguazu 17: Interlaken leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Interlaken 8, Puerto Iguazu 48: Puerto Iguazu leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Interlaken 15, Puerto Iguazu 7: Interlaken leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Interlaken 40, Puerto Iguazu 34: Interlaken leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Interlaken and Puerto Iguazu.

Your match

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

Interlaken
Best match
41match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Puerto Iguazu
33match

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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
InterlakenPuerto Iguazu

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). Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureInterlakenPuerto Iguazu
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 m162 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureInterlakenPuerto Iguazu
City population6,12354,903
People per km²1,424-
Museums within 10 km30
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Interlaken or Puerto Iguazu 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.