VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cologne or Panama 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
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Panama City for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama 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, Panama City 44: Panama City leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Panama City 57: Panama City leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Panama City 62: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Panama City 62: Cologne leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Panama City 50: Cologne leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Panama City 45: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Panama City 40: Cologne leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Panama City 52: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Panama City 34: Cologne leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Panama City 22: Cologne leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Panama City.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
ColognePanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColognePanama City
Official languageGermanSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m20 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureColognePanama City
City population1,025,5231,540,000
People per km²2,5325,600
Museums within 10 km4010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
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 Panama 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.