VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Colombo or Marrakech?

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
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Marrakech for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Marrakech’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, Marrakech 7: Colombo leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Marrakech 64: Colombo leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Marrakech 76: Marrakech leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Marrakech 33: Colombo leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Marrakech 70: Marrakech leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Marrakech 28: Colombo leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Marrakech 25: Colombo leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Marrakech 38: Marrakech leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Marrakech 72: Marrakech leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Marrakech 72: Colombo leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Marrakech 25: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Marrakech 75: Marrakech leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Marrakech.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Marrakech
Best match
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and culture and sights 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

Marrakech in July

38 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboMarrakech

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboMarrakech
Official languageTamil, SinhalaArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation1 m465 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboMarrakech
City population647,5571,002,697
People per km²17,3614,360
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 Marrakech 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.