VacationSelector
Titanic Belfast, Belfast
BelfastTitanic Belfast
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Belfast by Nico Kaiser, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Belfast 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 Belfast for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Colombo for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • 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. Belfast 20, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Belfast 50, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Belfast 55, Colombo 45: Belfast leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Belfast 50, Colombo 35: Belfast leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Belfast 74, Colombo 32: Belfast leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Belfast 66, Colombo 50: Belfast leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Belfast 58, Colombo 35: Belfast leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Belfast 62, Colombo 35: Belfast leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Belfast and Colombo are level on 45.
Affordability. Belfast 48, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Belfast 55, Colombo 30: Belfast leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Belfast 25, Colombo 48: Colombo leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Belfast and Colombo.

Your match

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

Belfast
Best match
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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.

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

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
BelfastColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Belfast: 1991-2020 normals, Belfast / Aldergrove Airport (19.4 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBelfastColombo
Official languageEnglishTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number112 or 999Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation3 m1 m
Main airportGeorge Best Belfast City Airport (BHD)4 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBelfastColombo
City population345,006647,557
People per km²3,00017,361
Museums within 10 km810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

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