VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Colombo or Lima?

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

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • beaches

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

Choose Lima for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Lima’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, Lima 42: Colombo leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Lima 88: Lima leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Lima 66: Lima leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Lima 62: Lima leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Lima 45: Lima leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Lima 34: Colombo leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Lima 42: Lima leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Colombo and Lima are level on 35.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Lima 52: Lima leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Lima 70: Colombo leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Lima 53: Lima leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Lima 25: Colombo leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Lima.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on wellness and day trips with your weighting.

Lima
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboLima
Official languageTamil, SinhalaSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Sol (PEN)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110111 or 911
Elevation1 m154 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboLima
City population647,5579,943,800
People per km²17,3613,721
Museums within 10 km1047
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Lima 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.