VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cologne or Valparaiso?

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

  • families
  • wellness
  • getting around

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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, Valparaiso 36: Valparaiso leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Valparaiso 50: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Valparaiso 62: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Valparaiso 56: Cologne leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Valparaiso 63: Cologne leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Valparaiso 33: Cologne leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Valparaiso 44: Cologne leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Valparaiso 30: Cologne leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Valparaiso 38: Cologne leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Valparaiso 18: Cologne leads by 32 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Valparaiso.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on families and wellness with your weighting.

Valparaiso
46match

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

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
CologneValparaiso

Where the figures come from

Valparaiso has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneValparaiso
Official languageGermanSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation59 m21 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneValparaiso
City population1,025,523296,655
People per km²2,5326,180
Museums within 10 km4017
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 Valparaiso 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.