VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Cologne or Lisbon?

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

  • wellness
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Lisbon for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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, Lisbon 50: Lisbon leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Lisbon 78: Lisbon leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Lisbon 82: Lisbon leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Lisbon 62: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Lisbon 66: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Lisbon 60: Lisbon leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Lisbon 55: Lisbon leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Lisbon 60: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Lisbon 36: Cologne leads by 14 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Cologne
58match

Wins on wellness and families with your weighting.

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on beaches 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
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
CologneLisbon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneLisbon
Official languageGermanPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m100 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneLisbon
City population1,025,523545,796
People per km²2,5325,453
Museums within 10 km4080
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km33
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 Lisbon 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.