VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Cologne or Seattle?

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
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Seattle for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Seattle 50: Cologne leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Seattle 55: Cologne leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Seattle 55: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Seattle 64: Cologne leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Seattle 60: Cologne leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Seattle 52: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Seattle 22: Cologne leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Seattle 40: Cologne leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Seattle.

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 prices with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CologneSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneSeattle
City population1,025,523737,015
People per km²2,5321,996
Museums within 10 km4027
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
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 Seattle 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.