VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License.

Cologne or Mexico City?

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

  • getting around
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Mexico City for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’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, Mexico City 5: Cologne leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Mexico City 90: Mexico City leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Mexico City 88: Mexico City leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Mexico City 80: Mexico City leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Mexico City 50: Cologne leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Mexico City 75: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Mexico City 58: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Mexico City 50: Cologne leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Mexico City 76: Mexico City leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Mexico City 72: Mexico City leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Mexico City 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 Mexico City.

Your match

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

Cologne
58match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on food and drink 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

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CologneMexico City

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneMexico City
Official languageGermanSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m2,240 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneMexico City
City population1,025,5239,209,944
People per km²2,5326,202
Museums within 10 km40108
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km36

Where else could you go?

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