VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Viru Gate, Tallinn
TallinnThe Viru Gate

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tallinn by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cologne or Tallinn?

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

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Tallinn for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Tallinn’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, Tallinn 28: Tallinn leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Cologne and Tallinn are level on 52.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Tallinn 68: Tallinn leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Tallinn 44: Cologne leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Tallinn 55: Cologne leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Tallinn 58: Cologne leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Tallinn 60: Cologne leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Tallinn 72: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Tallinn 40: Cologne leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Tallinn 47: Tallinn leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Tallinn 50: Cologne leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne and Tallinn are level on 50.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Tallinn.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and day trips with your weighting.

Tallinn
52match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights 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

Tallinn in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneTallinn

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Tallinn: 1991-2020 normals, Tallin / Harku (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneTallinn
Official languageGermanEstonian
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 m28 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsLennart Meri Tallinn Airport (TLL)6 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneTallinn
City population1,025,523457,572
People per km²2,5322,871
Museums within 10 km4016
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 Tallinn 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.