VacationSelector
The Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Avignon by BlueBreezeWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Avignon 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 Avignon for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Colombo for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • wellness

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. Avignon 22, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Avignon 57, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Avignon 69, Colombo 45: Avignon leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Avignon 30, Colombo 35: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Avignon 70, Colombo 32: Avignon leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Avignon 92, Colombo 50: Avignon leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Avignon 45, Colombo 35: Avignon leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Avignon 62, Colombo 35: Avignon leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Avignon 38, Colombo 45: Colombo leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Avignon 44, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Avignon 68, Colombo 30: Avignon leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Avignon 35, Colombo 48: Colombo leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Avignon and Colombo.

Your match

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

Avignon
Best match
53match

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

Colombo
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.

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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
AvignonColombo

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). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAvignonColombo
Official languageFrenchTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number112Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation10 m1 m
Main airportMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAvignonColombo
City population92,188647,557
People per km²1,42017,361
Museums within 10 km1110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60
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 Avignon 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). 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. 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.