VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cologne or Gdansk?

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

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Gdansk for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Gdansk’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, Gdansk 40: Gdansk leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Gdansk 50: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Gdansk 68: Gdansk leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Gdansk 52: Cologne leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Gdansk 58: Gdansk leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Gdansk 62: Cologne leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Gdansk 62: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Gdansk 72: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Gdansk 42: Cologne leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Gdansk 68: Gdansk leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Gdansk 52: Cologne leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Gdansk 36: Cologne leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Gdansk.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Gdansk
55match

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

Gdansk in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneGdansk

Where the figures come from

Gdansk has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Gdansk's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Elblag.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneGdansk
Official languageGermanPolish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m11 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneGdansk
City population1,025,523487,834
People per km²2,532714
Museums within 10 km4034
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
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 Gdansk 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.