VacationSelector
The Old Port and Le Suquet, Cannes
CannesThe Old Port and Le Suquet
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Cannes by qwesy qwesy, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Cannes 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 Cannes for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Colombo for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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. Cannes 80, Colombo 55: Cannes leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Cannes 55, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Cannes 38, Colombo 45: Colombo leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Cannes 42, Colombo 35: Cannes leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cannes 72, Colombo 32: Cannes leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Cannes 86, Colombo 50: Cannes leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Cannes 56, Colombo 35: Cannes leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Cannes 68, Colombo 35: Cannes leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Cannes 60, Colombo 45: Cannes leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Cannes 22, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cannes 38, Colombo 30: Cannes leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cannes 42, Colombo 48: Colombo leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cannes and Colombo.

Your match

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

Cannes
Best match
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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.

Cannes in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °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
CannesColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cannes: 2004-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Cannes (5.8 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCannesColombo
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 airportNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)20 km from centre130 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCannesColombo
City population74,350647,557
People per km²3,79317,361
Museums within 10 km1610
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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