VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Beijing 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 Beijing for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Colombo for

  • beaches
  • prices

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. Beijing 6, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Colombo 66: Beijing leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Colombo 45: Beijing leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Colombo 35: Beijing leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Colombo 32: Beijing leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Colombo 50: Beijing leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Colombo 35: Beijing leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Colombo 35: Beijing leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Colombo 45: Beijing leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Colombo 30: Beijing leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Colombo 48: Beijing leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Colombo.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts 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.

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 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
BeijingColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingColombo
Official languagePutonghuaTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation43 m1 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingColombo
City population21,893,095647,557
People per km²1,33417,361
Museums within 10 km8310
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 Beijing 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). 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. 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.

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.