VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Place d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal
MontrealPlace d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montreal by Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Montreal?

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
  • culture and sights
  • families

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

Choose Montreal for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Montreal’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, Montreal 25: Montreal leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Montreal 78: Montreal leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Montreal 60: Cologne leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Montreal 75: Montreal leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Montreal 66: Montreal leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Montreal 55: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Montreal 68: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Montreal 72: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Montreal 60: Montreal leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Montreal 45: Cologne leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Montreal 76: Montreal leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Montreal 57: Montreal leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Cologne
58match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Montreal
Best match
61match

Wins on food and drink and beaches 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

Montreal in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
98 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
CologneMontreal

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Montreal: 1991-2020 normals, Montreal McTavish (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneMontreal
Official languageGermanFrench, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m31 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsMontreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)16 km from centre166 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneMontreal
City population1,025,5231,895,211
People per km²2,5323,806
Museums within 10 km4037
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 Montreal 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.