VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Castle Square and the Royal Castle, Warsaw
WarsawCastle Square and the Royal Castle

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Warsaw by Raymond Petrik, Pexels License.

Cologne or Warsaw?

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

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Warsaw for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Warsaw’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, Warsaw 12: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Warsaw 60: Warsaw leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Warsaw 70: Warsaw leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Cologne and Warsaw are level on 66.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Warsaw 47: Cologne leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Warsaw 52: Cologne leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Warsaw 62: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Warsaw 72: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Warsaw 55: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Warsaw 64: Warsaw leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Warsaw 63: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Warsaw 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 Warsaw.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

Warsaw
55match

Wins on prices 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
16 hdaylight a day

Warsaw in July

25 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneWarsaw

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Warsaw: 1991-2020 normals, Warszawa-Okecie (7.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneWarsaw
Official languageGermanPolish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m118 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsWarsaw Chopin Airport (WAW)8 km from centre172 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneWarsaw
City population1,025,5231,862,402
People per km²2,5323,601
Museums within 10 km40117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31

Where else could you go?

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