Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Ho Chi Minh City by trungydang, CC BY 3.0, cropped.
Colombo or Ho Chi Minh City?
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
- nature and the outdoors
What lies behind each score is written up on Colombo’s own page.
Choose Ho Chi Minh City for
- nightlife
- food and drink
- prices
What lies behind each score is written up on Ho Chi Minh City’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Ho Chi Minh City.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.
Wins on nightlife and food and drink 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
Ho Chi Minh City in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Ho Chi Minh City 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.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Ho Chi Minh City: 1991-2020 normals, Ho Chi Minh (6 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Colombo | Ho Chi Minh City |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Tamil, Sinhala | Vietnamese |
| Currency | Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR) | Dong (VND) |
| Sockets | GM230 V, 50 Hz | ACFG220 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 | UTC+7 |
| Emergency number | Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110 | Police 113, ambulance 115, fire 114 |
| Elevation | 1 m | 13 m |
| Main airport | Bandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations | Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN)7 km from centre90 non-stop destinations |
By the numbers
| Measure | Colombo | Ho Chi Minh City |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 647,557 | 14,002,598 |
| People per km² | 17,361 | 2,068 |
| Museums within 10 km | 10 | 9 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Ho Chi Minh City somewhere new.