VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Fort Lauderdale?

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
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Fort Lauderdale for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Fort Lauderdale’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, Fort Lauderdale 88: Fort Lauderdale leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Fort Lauderdale 47: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Fort Lauderdale 28: Cologne leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Fort Lauderdale 52: Cologne leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Fort Lauderdale 62: Fort Lauderdale leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Fort Lauderdale 58: Cologne leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Fort Lauderdale 66: Cologne leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Fort Lauderdale 32: Cologne leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Fort Lauderdale 52: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Fort Lauderdale 32: Cologne leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Fort Lauderdale 42: Cologne leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Fort Lauderdale 40: Cologne leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Fort Lauderdale.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CologneFort Lauderdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneFort Lauderdale
Official languageGerman-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m11 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneFort Lauderdale
City population1,025,523182,760
People per km²2,5321,829
Museums within 10 km406
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 Fort Lauderdale 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.