VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cologne or Hurghada?

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
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Hurghada for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Hurghada’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, Hurghada 84: Hurghada leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Hurghada 34: Cologne leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Hurghada 14: Cologne leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Hurghada 40: Cologne leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Hurghada 72: Hurghada leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Hurghada 30: Cologne leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Hurghada 62: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Hurghada 22: Cologne leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Hurghada 24: Cologne leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Hurghada 80: Hurghada leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Hurghada 10: Cologne leads by 58 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Hurghada 44: Cologne leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Hurghada.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Hurghada
43match

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

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneHurghada

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneHurghada
Official languageGermanArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation59 m11 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneHurghada
City population1,025,523214,247
People per km²2,532-
Museums within 10 km401
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 Hurghada 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.