VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Orange Beach?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange Beach’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, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Orange Beach 40: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Orange Beach 7: Cologne leads by 60 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Orange Beach 30: Cologne leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Orange Beach 60: Orange Beach leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Orange Beach 50: Cologne leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Orange Beach 15: Cologne leads by 59 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Orange Beach 25: Cologne leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Orange Beach 38: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Orange Beach 32: Cologne leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Orange Beach 32: Cologne leads by 18 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Orange Beach
41match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CologneOrange Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneOrange Beach
Official languageGerman-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m4 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneOrange Beach
City population1,025,5238,095
People per km²2,532196
Museums within 10 km400
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cologne or Orange Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.