VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cologne or Salt Lake 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

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Salt Lake City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake 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, Salt Lake City 12: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Salt Lake City 40: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Salt Lake City 42: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Salt Lake City 30: Cologne leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Salt Lake City 90: Salt Lake City leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Salt Lake City 34: Cologne leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Salt Lake City 72: Salt Lake City leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Salt Lake City 42: Cologne leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Salt Lake City 36: Cologne leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Salt Lake City 40: Cologne leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Salt Lake City 55: Cologne leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Salt Lake City 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 Salt Lake City.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Salt Lake City
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families 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

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneSalt Lake City

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneSalt Lake City
Official languageGerman-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m1,288 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneSalt Lake City
City population1,025,523199,723
People per km²2,532690
Museums within 10 km4012
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 Salt Lake 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.