VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cologne or Guilin?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Guilin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Guilin’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, Guilin 8: Cologne leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Guilin 45: Cologne leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Guilin 40: Cologne leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Guilin 30: Cologne leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Guilin 88: Guilin leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Guilin 56: Cologne leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Guilin 45: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Guilin 45: Cologne leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Guilin 28: Cologne leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Guilin 78: Guilin leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Guilin 30: Cologne leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Guilin 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 Guilin.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

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

Guilin
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
16 hdaylight a day

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
CologneGuilin

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneGuilin
Official languageGermanPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation59 m153 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneGuilin
City population1,025,5234,931,137
People per km²2,532-
Museums within 10 km401
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31

Where else could you go?

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