VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Cologne or Valletta?

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
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Valletta 55: Valletta leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Valletta 46: Cologne leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne and Valletta are level on 56.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Valletta 76: Cologne leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Valletta 58: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Valletta 62: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Valletta 38: Cologne leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Valletta 50: Valletta leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Valletta 44: Cologne leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Valletta 32: Cologne leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Valletta.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneValletta
Official languageGermanEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m56 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneValletta
City population1,025,5235,197
People per km²2,5326,496
Museums within 10 km4016
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km33
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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