VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cologne or Oaxaca?

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

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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, Oaxaca 5: Cologne leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Oaxaca 74: Oaxaca leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Oaxaca 40: Cologne leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Oaxaca 65: Cologne leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Oaxaca 40: Cologne leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Oaxaca 55: Cologne leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Oaxaca 38: Cologne leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne and Oaxaca are level on 50.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Oaxaca.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on families and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Oaxaca
54match

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

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CologneOaxaca

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneOaxaca
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 m1,555 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneOaxaca
City population1,025,523258,913
People per km²2,5323,028
Museums within 10 km4010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32

Where else could you go?

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