VacationSelector
Bodrum Castle and gulets in the harbour, Bodrum
BodrumBodrum Castle and gulets in the harbour
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Bodrum by Serhio Magpie, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Bodrum 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 Bodrum for

  • families
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Colombo for

  • prices
  • 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. Bodrum 80, Colombo 55: Bodrum leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Bodrum 60, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Bodrum and Colombo are level on 45.
Nightlife. Bodrum 65, Colombo 35: Bodrum leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bodrum 60, Colombo 32: Bodrum leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Bodrum 72, Colombo 50: Bodrum leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Bodrum 66, Colombo 35: Bodrum leads by 31 points.
Getting around. Bodrum 42, Colombo 35: Bodrum leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Bodrum and Colombo are level on 45.
Affordability. Bodrum 38, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bodrum 32, Colombo 30: Bodrum leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bodrum 52, Colombo 48: Bodrum leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bodrum and Colombo.

Your match

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

Bodrum
Best match
55match

Wins on families and nightlife with your weighting.

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bodrum in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 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
BodrumColombo

Where the figures come from

Bodrum's temperatures are measured 43 km from the centre, at Kos Airport.

Bodrum has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bodrum: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Kos Airport (42.7 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBodrumColombo
Official languageTurkishTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+5:30
Emergency number112Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation10 m1 m
Main airportMilas Bodrum International Airport (BJV)32 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBodrumColombo
City population175,000647,557
People per km²31417,361
Museums within 10 km410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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