VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

AlUla or Colombo?

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 AlUla for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Colombo for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Colombo’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. AlUla 3, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Colombo 45: AlUla leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Colombo 35: Colombo leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Colombo 32: AlUla leads by 40 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Colombo 50: Colombo leads by 30 points.
Good for families. AlUla and Colombo are level on 35.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Colombo 35: Colombo leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Colombo 45: Colombo leads by 30 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Colombo 30: Colombo leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Colombo 48: Colombo leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Colombo.

Your match

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

AlUla
30match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and culture and sights with your weighting.

Colombo
Best match
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

AlUla in July

43 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Colombo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
128 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaColombo

Where the figures come from

AlUla 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. AlUla: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Alula / Al ‘Ulá (23.7 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaColombo
Official languageArabicTamil, Sinhala
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsG60 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+5:30
Emergency number112 or 911Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation692 m1 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaColombo
City population32,413647,557
People per km²-17,361
Museums within 10 km210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow AlUla or Colombo 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.