VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

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

Choose Colombo for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • 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. Cairo 10, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Colombo 45: Cairo leads by 51 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Colombo 35: Cairo leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Colombo 32: Colombo leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Colombo 50: Cairo leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Colombo 35: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Cairo and Colombo are level on 35.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Colombo 45: Cairo leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Colombo 78: Cairo leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Colombo 30: Cairo leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Colombo 48: Colombo leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo and Colombo.

Your match

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

Cairo
Best match
50match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
CairoColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoColombo
Official languageArabicTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation23 m1 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCairoColombo
City population9,801,536647,557
People per km²18,56417,361
Museums within 10 km4810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Cairo 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). 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. 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.