VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cologne or Tirana?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tirana for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Tirana leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Tirana 57: Tirana leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Tirana 42: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Tirana 58: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Tirana 62: Tirana leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Tirana 64: Cologne leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Tirana 40: Cologne leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Tirana 54: Cologne leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Tirana 32: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Tirana 76: Tirana leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Tirana 32: Cologne leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Tirana 27: Cologne leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Tirana.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and families with your weighting.

Tirana
49match

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

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CologneTirana

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneTirana
Official languageGermanAlbanian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Lek (ALL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m110 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneTirana
City population1,025,523389,323
People per km²2,5329,314
Museums within 10 km4011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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