VacationSelector
The Umayyad Palace on the Amman Citadel, Amman
AmmanThe Umayyad Palace on the Amman Citadel
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Amman by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Amman 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 Amman for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Colombo for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • getting around

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. Amman 22, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Amman 62, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Amman 54, Colombo 45: Amman leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Amman 32, Colombo 35: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amman 45, Colombo 32: Amman leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Amman 80, Colombo 50: Amman leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Amman 38, Colombo 35: Amman leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Amman 30, Colombo 35: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Amman 42, Colombo 45: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Amman 58, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amman 27, Colombo 30: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amman 55, Colombo 48: Amman leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amman and Colombo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Amman
45match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Amman in July

33 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AmmanColombo

Where the figures come from

Amman 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.

Amman's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Mafraq.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amman: 1994-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Amman Airport (6 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmmanColombo
Official languageArabicTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyJordanian Dinar (JOD)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsBCFGJ230 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+5:30
Emergency number911Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation776 m1 m
Main airportQueen Alia International Airport (AMM)26 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAmmanColombo
City population4,007,526647,557
People per km²2,38517,361
Museums within 10 km810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
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 Amman 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.