VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cologne or Riga?

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
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Riga for

  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Riga leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Cologne and Riga are level on 52.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Riga 66: Cologne leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Riga 52: Cologne leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Riga 55: Cologne leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Riga 60: Cologne leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Riga 50: Cologne leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Riga 68: Cologne leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Riga 45: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Riga 62: Riga leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Riga 65: Cologne leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne and Riga are level on 50.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Riga.

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 families with your weighting.

Riga
55match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneRiga
Official languageGermanLatvian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m6 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCologneRiga
City population1,025,523588,911
People per km²2,532-
Museums within 10 km4012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cologne or Riga 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.