VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Colombo or Dublin?

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

  • prices
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Dublin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Dublin’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, Dublin 27: Colombo leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Dublin 50: Colombo leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Dublin 64: Dublin leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Dublin 62: Dublin leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Dublin 70: Dublin leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Dublin 72: Dublin leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Dublin 57: Dublin leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Dublin 66: Dublin leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Dublin 54: Dublin leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Dublin 20: Colombo leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Dublin 65: Dublin leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Dublin 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 Dublin.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Dublin
Best match
53match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts 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

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboDublin

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboDublin
Official languageTamil, SinhalaEnglish, Irish
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation1 m20 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboDublin
City population647,557592,713
People per km²17,3615,154
Museums within 10 km1040
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Dublin 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.