VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Colombo or Fort Lauderdale?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Fort Lauderdale for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Fort Lauderdale’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, Fort Lauderdale 88: Fort Lauderdale leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Fort Lauderdale 47: Colombo leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Fort Lauderdale 28: Colombo leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Fort Lauderdale 62: Fort Lauderdale leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Fort Lauderdale 58: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Fort Lauderdale 66: Fort Lauderdale leads by 31 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Fort Lauderdale 32: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Fort Lauderdale 32: Colombo leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Fort Lauderdale 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Fort Lauderdale 40: Colombo leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Fort Lauderdale.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Fort Lauderdale
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboFort Lauderdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboFort Lauderdale
Official languageTamil, Sinhala-
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110911
Elevation1 m11 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboFort Lauderdale
City population647,557182,760
People per km²17,3611,829
Museums within 10 km106
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Fort Lauderdale 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.