VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Chicago 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 Chicago for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Colombo for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • day trips

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. Chicago 50, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Colombo 66: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Colombo 45: Chicago leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Colombo 35: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Colombo 32: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Colombo 50: Colombo leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Colombo 35: Chicago leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Colombo 35: Chicago leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Colombo 45: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Colombo 30: Chicago leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Colombo 48: Colombo leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Colombo.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on live music and the arts and families with your weighting.

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices 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.

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine 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
ChicagoColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoColombo
Official language-Tamil, Sinhala
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number911Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation179 m1 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoColombo
City population2,746,388647,557
People per km²4,52917,361
Museums within 10 km4410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month12 months

Where else could you go?

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