VacationSelector
Philae temple on the Nile, Aswan
AswanPhilae temple on the Nile
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

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

Aswan 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 Aswan for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Colombo for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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. Aswan 10, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Aswan 30, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Aswan 64, Colombo 45: Aswan leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Aswan 8, Colombo 35: Colombo leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aswan 45, Colombo 32: Aswan leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Aswan 52, Colombo 50: Aswan leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Aswan 32, Colombo 35: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Aswan 40, Colombo 35: Aswan leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Aswan 30, Colombo 45: Colombo leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Aswan 92, Colombo 78: Aswan leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aswan 14, Colombo 30: Colombo leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aswan 40, Colombo 48: Colombo leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aswan and Colombo.

Your match

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

Aswan
38match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Colombo
Best match
46match

Wins on beaches 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.

Aswan in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AswanColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Aswan: 1991-2020 normals, Asswan (18 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAswanColombo
Official languageArabicTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation99 m1 m
Main airportAswan International Airport (ASW)16 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAswanColombo
City population401,890647,557
People per km²1,07217,361
Museums within 10 km310
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 Aswan 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.