VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Dublin?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Dublin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Dublin’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, Dublin 27: Dublin leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Dublin 50: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Dublin 64: Cologne leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Dublin 62: Cologne leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Dublin 70: Dublin leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Dublin 72: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Dublin 57: Cologne leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Dublin 66: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Dublin 54: Cologne leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Dublin 20: Cologne leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Dublin 65: Cologne leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Dublin 25: Cologne leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Dublin.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Dublin
53match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneDublin

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneDublin
Official languageGermanEnglish, Irish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m20 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneDublin
City population1,025,523592,713
People per km²2,5325,154
Museums within 10 km4040
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cologne or Dublin 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.