VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
A lifeguard stand on South Beach, Miami
MiamiA lifeguard stand on South Beach

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Miami by Radomianin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Miami?

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
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Miami for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Miami’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, Miami 90: Miami leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Miami 72: Miami leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Miami 57: Cologne leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Miami 82: Miami leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Miami 64: Miami leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Miami 42: Cologne leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Miami 64: Cologne leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Miami 35: Cologne leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Miami 71: Miami leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Miami 27: Cologne leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Miami 55: Cologne leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Miami 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 Miami.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cologne
58match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Miami
59match

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

Miami in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
186 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
CologneMiami

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Miami: 1991-2020 normals, Miami International Airport (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneMiami
Official languageGerman-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m2 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsMiami International Airport (MIA)7 km from centre198 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneMiami
City population1,025,523442,241
People per km²2,5323,046
Museums within 10 km4017
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 Miami 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.