VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
HanoiThe Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake

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

Colombo or Hanoi?

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

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

Choose Hanoi for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Hanoi’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, Hanoi 6: Colombo leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Hanoi 85: Hanoi leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Hanoi 72: Hanoi leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Hanoi 50: Hanoi leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Hanoi 52: Hanoi leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Hanoi 58: Hanoi leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Colombo and Hanoi are level on 35.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Hanoi 36: Hanoi leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Hanoi 50: Hanoi leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Hanoi 98: Hanoi leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Hanoi 40: Hanoi leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Hanoi 46: Colombo leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Hanoi.

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.

Hanoi
Best match
52match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors 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

Hanoi in July

34 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
311 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboHanoi

Where the figures come from

Hanoi's sunshine is measured 86 km from the centre, at Phu Lien.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Hanoi: 1991-2020 normals, Ha Noi (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboHanoi
Official languageTamil, SinhalaVietnamese
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Dong (VND)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzACFG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 113, ambulance 115, fire 114
Elevation1 m10 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsNoi Bai International Airport (HAN)22 km from centre91 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureColomboHanoi
City population647,5578,717,600
People per km²17,3612,595
Museums within 10 km1014
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 Hanoi 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. 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.