VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Colombo for

  • beaches
  • 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. Cologne 14, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Colombo 45: Cologne leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Colombo 35: Cologne leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Colombo 32: Cologne leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Colombo 50: Cologne leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Colombo 35: Cologne leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Colombo 35: Cologne leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Colombo 45: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Colombo 30: Cologne leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Colombo 48: Cologne leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Colombo.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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
CologneColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneColombo
Official languageGermanTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number112Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation59 m1 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCologneColombo
City population1,025,523647,557
People per km²2,53217,361
Museums within 10 km4010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
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 Cologne 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). 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. 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.