VacationSelector
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Interlaken or Scottsdale?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Interlaken leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Interlaken 25, Scottsdale 46: Scottsdale leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Interlaken 8, Scottsdale 38: Scottsdale leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Interlaken 15, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Interlaken 97, Scottsdale 68: Interlaken leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Interlaken 78, Scottsdale 50: Interlaken leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Interlaken 72, Scottsdale 60: Interlaken leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Interlaken 80, Scottsdale 20: Interlaken leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Interlaken 22, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Interlaken 8, Scottsdale 32: Scottsdale leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Interlaken 15, Scottsdale 40: Scottsdale leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Interlaken 40, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 32 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Interlaken and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Interlaken
41match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Scottsdale
Best match
46match

Wins on shopping and nightlife 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
15 hdaylight a day

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
InterlakenScottsdale

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). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureInterlakenScottsdale
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, Romansh-
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation571 m380 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureInterlakenScottsdale
City population6,123241,361
People per km²1,424-
Museums within 10 km310
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 Scottsdale 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.