VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Cologne or Philadelphia?

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

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Philadelphia 62: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Philadelphia 55: Cologne leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Philadelphia 52: Cologne leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Cologne and Philadelphia are level on 80.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Philadelphia 68: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Philadelphia 66: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne and Philadelphia are level on 57.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Philadelphia 40: Cologne leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Philadelphia 26: Cologne leads by 24 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cologne
58match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on beaches and food and drink 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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ColognePhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColognePhiladelphia
Official languageGerman-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m12 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureColognePhiladelphia
City population1,025,5231,603,797
People per km²2,5324,339
Museums within 10 km4054
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31

Where else could you go?

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