VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Bangkok 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 Bangkok for

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Colombo for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Bangkok 12, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Colombo 66: Bangkok leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Colombo 45: Bangkok leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Colombo 35: Bangkok leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Colombo 32: Colombo leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Colombo 50: Bangkok leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Colombo 35: Bangkok leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Colombo 35: Bangkok leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Colombo 45: Bangkok leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Colombo 78: Bangkok leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Colombo 30: Bangkok leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Colombo 48: Bangkok leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bangkok and Colombo.

Your match

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

Bangkok
Best match
63match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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
BangkokColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokColombo
Official languageThaiTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyBaht (THB)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation2 m1 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokColombo
City population5,676,648647,557
People per km²3,61917,361
Museums within 10 km5910
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.