VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Elizabeth Quay and the centre of Perth, Perth
PerthElizabeth Quay and the centre of Perth

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Perth by Samuel Wiki, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Perth?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Perth for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Perth’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, Perth 86: Perth leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Perth 58: Perth leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Perth 42: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Perth 42: Cologne leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Perth 72: Perth leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Perth 48: Cologne leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Perth 74: Perth leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Perth 55: Cologne leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Perth 44: Cologne leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Perth 28: Cologne leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Perth 50: Cologne leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Perth 38: Cologne leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Perth.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

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

Perth
53match

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

Perth in July

19 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
20 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ColognePerth

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Perth: 1991-2020 normals, Perth (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColognePerth
Official languageGermanEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112000
Elevation59 m2 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsPerth International Airport (PER)10 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColognePerth
City population1,025,5232,141,834
People per km²2,532334
Museums within 10 km4015
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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