VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Las Vegas
Las VegasThe Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Las Vegas by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Las Vegas?

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
  • families
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Las Vegas for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Las Vegas’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, Las Vegas 10: Cologne leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Las Vegas 68: Las Vegas leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Las Vegas 25: Cologne leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Las Vegas 88: Las Vegas leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Las Vegas 68: Las Vegas leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Las Vegas 25: Cologne leads by 55 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Las Vegas 25: Cologne leads by 45 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Las Vegas 38: Cologne leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Las Vegas 64: Las Vegas leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Las Vegas 35: Cologne leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Las Vegas 78: Las Vegas leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Las Vegas 40: Cologne leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Las Vegas.

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 families with your weighting.

Las Vegas
47match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink 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

Las Vegas in July

40 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneLas Vegas

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Las Vegas: 1991-2020 normals, McCarran International Airport (8.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneLas Vegas
Official languageGerman-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m610 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsHarry Reid International Airport (LAS)4 km from centre159 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneLas Vegas
City population1,025,523641,903
People per km²2,5321,843
Museums within 10 km4021
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cologne or Las Vegas 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.