VacationSelector
The Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine

Photos: Avignon by BlueBreezeWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Avignon or Cologne?

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 Avignon for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • beaches

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

Choose Cologne for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Cologne’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. Avignon 22, Cologne 14: Avignon leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Avignon 57, Cologne 52: Avignon leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Avignon 69, Cologne 67: Avignon leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Avignon 30, Cologne 66: Cologne leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Avignon 70, Cologne 56: Avignon leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Avignon 92, Cologne 80: Avignon leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Avignon 45, Cologne 70: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Avignon 62, Cologne 74: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Avignon 38, Cologne 57: Cologne leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Avignon 44, Cologne 46: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Avignon and Cologne are level on 68.
Wellness & relaxation. Avignon 35, Cologne 50: Cologne leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Avignon
53match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AvignonCologne

Where the figures come from

Avignon 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.

Avignon's sunshine is measured 65 km from the centre, at Marseille / Marignane.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Avignon: 2005-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Avignon / Morières-lès-Avignon (8.6 km from centre). Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAvignonCologne
Official languageFrenchGerman
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m59 m
Main airportMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAvignonCologne
City population92,1881,025,523
People per km²1,4202,532
Museums within 10 km1140
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km63

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Avignon or Cologne 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). 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. 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.