Barcelona vs Milan vs Geneva vs Vienna

[pigeonhole]

None of them. I'm fed up with those big eurocities where $$$$$$$$ or ££££ or €€€€€ is the only "language" and common denominator. None of these cities are made for middle class/ lower middle class people. The only one that have beaches, Barcelona, has rampant insecurity (my car was robbed on a beach North of Barcelona 4 years ago).

[traveller123]

How is Milan?

[Jaggy001]

Originally Posted by pigeonhole

Swizrland is extremely expensive. I, on the other hand, would definitely choose Munich! much more convivial than anywhere in Switzerland (Englisher Garten, Oktoberfest, museums, Ludwig II castles, lakes..) and close to the Alps (Garmish-Partenkirchen, world class ski resort , is 1 h away!). Maybe English is not as widespread as in Zürich or Geneva (not sure about that, I believe it's about on a par) but if you have some notions of German, it's much more easy to understand there than in CH, whre the Schwyzerdutsch is (for me at least) an ununderstandable goobledyook (and frankly not very pretty sounding), it could as well be Papuan...

You do realise that they speak French in the Suisse Romande

I like the variety in locations selected, but are there any reasons why Lyon, and Zurich were not included? With the variety, I also see a theme/pattern for the places used in this thread topic.

Lyon is in East-Central France, 3rd largest city in France, near the Southeast, and just 1 hour away from Geneva by car/bus/train. Zurich is Switzerland’s largest city.

It is a bit surprising to me that Austria’s largest city is so much bigger in population size compared to the largest cities in Switzerland, especially because Switzerland is usually more prominent with international attention compared to Austria. Vienna has 1.7 million people while Zurich has around 400,000 and Geneva 200,000 people.

Zurich and Geneva are excellent role models for cities with a population size of around 200,000 to 400,000, and it shows cities of that size can easily offer a lot and be very exciting. However, Geneva is being compared with Barcelona, Milan, and Vienna that are much bigger cities with 1.4 to 1.7 million people in each of those 3 cities.


For those categories here is how I rank Barcelona, Milan, Geneva, Vienna from most favorite to least favorite. I also wrote a brief description about these cities for each category:

Culture: Geneva, Vienna, Barcelona, Milan.

Geneva’s mix of Swiss and French culture is most intriguing to me. Vienna’s hardcore Austrian culture is also impressive, and Vienna is also getting more influence from other cultures and getting more diverse. Barcelona has a mix of Spain and Catalan culture and I’m not as sure how I feel about that. I have mixed opinions for Spain culture, but there is plenty to enjoy about it. Catalan culture is a bit of a mystery to me. Milan’s Northern Italian culture is noticeably different from Central and Southern Italy but still very Italian. Milan is actually not that far away from Southern Switzerland. All 4 of these cities are wealthy high class cities, but also with some middle class culture.


Food: Geneva, Barcelona, Vienna, Milan.

I prefer a large variety and diversity of food options, and a culture that promotes very diverse food. What is traditional and local for food I couldn’t care less most of the time because I am proud of my honest food preferences. My favorite cuisines are Thai, Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean, Italian, French, and Mexican.

Cosmopolitan/Diverse: Geneva, Barcelona, Vienna, Milan.

Geneva and Barcelona do very well in this category. Vienna is more mixed and more of a paradox, but still offers some of that. Milan seems least cosmopolitan/diverse compared to the other 3, but the international tourism Italy gets helps a lot.


Close proximity for Mountainous scenery: Geneva, Milan, Vienna, Barcelona.

Geneva is only one hour away from some of the best parts of the Swiss and French Alps. Milan is almost the same distance away from Italian Alps, and Swiss Alps. Vienna is surprisingly a bit further away from that and not as close as it seems.

Barcelona is only around 2 hours away from the Pyrenees mountains of Southern France/Northern Spain. I always knew the Alps existed but for a long time I never knew about the Pyrenees! The Pyrenees also offers spectacular, dramatic, impressive scenery.


Beaches: Barcelona, Milan, Geneva, Vienna.

Barcelona clearly has the advantage here with Mediterranean beaches and big city life right next to that. Milan is 2 hours away from Northwestern Italy’s coastline/Liguria. Geneva and Vienna actually have lakes in the mountains with some beaches, but they are kind of far away from Mediterranean beaches.

World Class: Geneva, Barcelona, Vienna, Milan.

All are very world class, so it is a close competition between all 4 of these cities.

Language isn’t an issue: Barcelona, Geneva, Vienna, Milan.

Barcelona and most of Spain has plenty of Spanish and English. Switzerland has a lot more variety in language demographics with French, Italian, and German majority speaking regions. Geneva is in the French language area, and plenty of people also know English there. Someone could still get around with English in Vienna, and Milan, but probably not as easily compared to Barcelona and Geneva.

I find Switzerland's language demographics most fascinating and impressive, and I want to learn some more languages. There should be other world languages other than English, such as French, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish etc. Someone does not have to learn English if they don't want to. People should have variety and choices.

[Pizarro]

In terms of...
culture: about the same, culture could be anything, depends.
food: Barcelona
cosmopolitan : None
skiing: Geneva
beaches: Barcelona
world class: what do you want that for?
language isn't an issue[/quote]: None, just show your money