VacationSelector
Titanic Belfast, Belfast
BelfastTitanic Belfast
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine

Photos: Belfast by Nico Kaiser, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Belfast 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 Belfast for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Cologne for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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. Belfast 20, Cologne 14: Belfast leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Belfast 50, Cologne 52: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Belfast 55, Cologne 67: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Belfast 50, Cologne 66: Cologne leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Belfast 74, Cologne 56: Belfast leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Belfast 66, Cologne 80: Cologne leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Belfast 58, Cologne 70: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Belfast 62, Cologne 74: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Belfast 45, Cologne 57: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Belfast 48, Cologne 46: Belfast leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Belfast 55, Cologne 68: Cologne leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Belfast 25, Cologne 50: Cologne leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Belfast and Cologne.

Your match

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

Belfast
51match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Belfast in July

19 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
74 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BelfastCologne

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Belfast: 1991-2020 normals, Belfast / Aldergrove Airport (19.4 km from centre). Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBelfastCologne
Official languageEnglishGerman
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999112
Elevation3 m59 m
Main airportGeorge Best Belfast City Airport (BHD)4 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBelfastCologne
City population345,0061,025,523
People per km²3,0002,532
Museums within 10 km840
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Belfast 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.