VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The beach promenade in Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv
Tel AvivThe beach promenade in Tel Aviv

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tel Aviv by israeltourism, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cologne or Tel Aviv?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tel Aviv for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Tel Aviv’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, Tel Aviv 86: Tel Aviv leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Tel Aviv 80: Tel Aviv leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Tel Aviv 57: Cologne leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Tel Aviv 82: Tel Aviv leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Tel Aviv 52: Cologne leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Tel Aviv 84: Tel Aviv leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Tel Aviv 68: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Tel Aviv 64: Cologne leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Tel Aviv 55: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Tel Aviv 14: Cologne leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Tel Aviv 70: Tel Aviv leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Tel Aviv 35: Cologne leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Tel Aviv.

Your match

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

Cologne
58match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Tel Aviv
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches 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
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Tel Aviv in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CologneTel Aviv

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Tel Aviv: 1991-2020 normals, Bet Dagan (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneTel Aviv
Official languageGermanHebrew
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 100, fire 102
Elevation59 m5 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)13 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCologneTel Aviv
City population1,025,523467,875
People per km²2,5328,998
Museums within 10 km4098
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °C-7 months

Where else could you go?

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