VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Colombo or Guilin?

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
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Guilin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Guilin’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, Guilin 8: Colombo leads by 47 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Guilin 45: Colombo leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Guilin 40: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Guilin 30: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Guilin 88: Guilin leads by 56 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Guilin 56: Guilin leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Guilin 45: Guilin leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Guilin 45: Guilin leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Guilin 28: Colombo leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Colombo and Guilin are level on 78.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo and Guilin are level on 30.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Guilin 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 Guilin.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Guilin
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboGuilin

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboGuilin
Official languageTamil, SinhalaPutonghua
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation1 m153 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboGuilin
City population647,5574,931,137
People per km²17,361-
Museums within 10 km101
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Guilin 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.