VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Colombo or Hurghada?

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
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Hurghada for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Hurghada’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, Hurghada 84: Hurghada leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Hurghada 34: Colombo leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Hurghada 14: Colombo leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Hurghada 40: Hurghada leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Hurghada 72: Hurghada leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Hurghada 30: Colombo leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Hurghada 62: Hurghada leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Hurghada 22: Colombo leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Hurghada 24: Colombo leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Hurghada 80: Hurghada leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Hurghada 10: Colombo leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Hurghada 44: Colombo leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Hurghada.

Your match

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

Colombo
Best match
46match

Wins on food and drink and culture and sights with your weighting.

Hurghada
43match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboHurghada

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboHurghada
Official languageTamil, SinhalaArabic
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation1 m11 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboHurghada
City population647,557214,247
People per km²17,361-
Museums within 10 km101
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 Hurghada 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). 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.