VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Teatro Amazonas, Manaus
ManausThe Teatro Amazonas

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Manaus by Jardelsliumba, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Colombo or Manaus?

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

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • beaches

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

Choose Manaus for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Manaus’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, Manaus 38: Colombo leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Manaus 56: Colombo leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Manaus 46: Manaus leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Manaus 42: Manaus leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Manaus 86: Manaus leads by 54 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Manaus 12: Colombo leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Colombo and Manaus are level on 35.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Manaus 27: Colombo leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Manaus 36: Colombo leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Manaus 63: Colombo leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Manaus 54: Manaus leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Manaus 20: Colombo leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Manaus.

Your match

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

Colombo
Best match
46match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

Manaus
43match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Manaus in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
74 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboManaus

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Manaus: 1991-2020 normals, Manaus (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboManaus
Official languageTamil, SinhalaPortuguese
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-4
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation1 m92 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsEduardo Gomes International Airport (MAO)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboManaus
City population647,5572,303,732
People per km²17,361202
Museums within 10 km1013
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 Manaus 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.