VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

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

Biarritz 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 Biarritz for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Colombo for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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. Biarritz 68, Colombo 55: Biarritz leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Colombo 45: Colombo leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Colombo 35: Biarritz leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Colombo 32: Biarritz leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Colombo 50: Biarritz leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Colombo 35: Biarritz leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Colombo 35: Biarritz leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz 42, Colombo 45: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Colombo 30: Biarritz leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Colombo 48: Biarritz leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Colombo.

Your match

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

Biarritz
Best match
54match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
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
BiarritzColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzColombo
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
Elevation0 m1 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzColombo
City population26,206647,557
People per km²2,24017,361
Museums within 10 km810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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