VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Colombo or Gdansk?

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

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Gdansk for

  • getting around
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Gdansk’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, Gdansk 40: Colombo leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Gdansk 50: Colombo leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Gdansk 68: Gdansk leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Gdansk 52: Gdansk leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Gdansk 58: Gdansk leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Gdansk 62: Gdansk leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Gdansk 62: Gdansk leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Gdansk 72: Gdansk leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Gdansk 42: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Gdansk 68: Colombo leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Gdansk 52: Gdansk leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Gdansk 36: Colombo leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Gdansk.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

Gdansk
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around 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

Gdansk in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboGdansk

Where the figures come from

Gdansk 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.

Gdansk's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Elblag.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboGdansk
Official languageTamil, SinhalaPolish
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation1 m11 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboGdansk
City population647,557487,834
People per km²17,361714
Museums within 10 km1034
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Gdansk 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). 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.