VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monaco
MonacoThe Casino de Monte-Carlo

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Monaco by otterboris, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Colombo or Monaco?

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

  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Monaco for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Monaco’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, Monaco 68: Monaco leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Monaco 57: Colombo leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Monaco 55: Monaco leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Monaco 48: Monaco leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Monaco 70: Monaco leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Monaco 84: Monaco leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Monaco 60: Monaco leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Monaco 78: Monaco leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Monaco 52: Monaco leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Monaco 3: Colombo leads by 75 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Monaco 63: Monaco leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Monaco 55: Monaco leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Monaco.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Monaco
Best match
58match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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

Monaco in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboMonaco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Monaco: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (19.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboMonaco
Official languageTamil, SinhalaFrench
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation1 m68 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)18 km from centre130 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboMonaco
City population647,55738,857
People per km²17,36118,503
Museums within 10 km1014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Monaco 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.