VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
India Gate behind its flower beds, Delhi
DelhiIndia Gate behind its flower beds

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Delhi by shalender kumar, Pexels License.

Colombo or Delhi?

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 Colombo for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Delhi for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Delhi’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. Colombo 55, Delhi 4: Colombo leads by 51 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Delhi 84: Delhi leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Delhi 85: Delhi leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Delhi 44: Delhi leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Delhi 20: Colombo leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Delhi 68: Delhi leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Delhi 32: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Delhi 55: Delhi leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Delhi 78: Delhi leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Delhi 90: Delhi leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Delhi 55: Delhi leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Delhi 25: Colombo leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Delhi.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Delhi
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Colombo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
128 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Delhi in July

36 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
190 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboDelhi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Delhi: 1991-2020 normals, New Delhi / Safdarjung (9.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboDelhi
Official languageTamil, SinhalaHindi, English
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110108 or 112
Elevation1 m221 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsIndira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)17 km from centre144 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureColomboDelhi
City population647,55726,495,000
People per km²17,36118,962
Museums within 10 km1023
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Delhi 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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.