VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Portland?

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
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Portland for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Portland leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Portland 68: Portland leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Portland 38: Cologne leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Portland 52: Cologne leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Portland 84: Portland leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Portland 58: Cologne leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Portland 55: Cologne leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Portland 62: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Portland 52: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Portland 38: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Portland 55: Cologne leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Portland 42: Cologne leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Portland.

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 day trips with your weighting.

Portland
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ColognePortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColognePortland
Official languageGerman-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m152 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureColognePortland
City population1,025,523652,503
People per km²2,5321,736
Museums within 10 km4017
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30

Where else could you go?

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