VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The junk Duk Ling in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong
Hong KongThe junk Duk Ling in Victoria Harbour

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Hong Kong by LN9267, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Hong Kong?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Hong Kong for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Hong Kong’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, Hong Kong 50: Hong Kong leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Hong Kong 90: Hong Kong leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Hong Kong 60: Cologne leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Hong Kong 68: Hong Kong leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Hong Kong 80: Hong Kong leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Hong Kong 68: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Hong Kong 75: Hong Kong leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Hong Kong 97: Hong Kong leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Hong Kong 88: Hong Kong leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Hong Kong 27: Cologne leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Hong Kong 55: Cologne leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Hong Kong 42: Cologne leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Hong Kong.

Your match

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

Cologne
58match

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

Hong Kong
Best match
67match

Wins on food and drink 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

Hong Kong in July

31 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
381 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
CologneHong Kong

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Hong Kong: 1991-2020 normals, King's Park (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneHong Kong
Official languageGermanStandard Chinese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation59 m7 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsHong Kong International Airport (HKG)25 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days17 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneHong Kong
City population1,025,5237,413,070
People per km²2,532-
Museums within 10 km4039
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

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