VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
Place d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal
MontrealPlace d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Montreal by Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Colombo or Montreal?

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
  • beaches

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

Choose Montreal for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Montreal’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, Montreal 25: Colombo leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Montreal 78: Montreal leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Montreal 60: Montreal leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Montreal 75: Montreal leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Montreal 66: Montreal leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Montreal 55: Montreal leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Montreal 68: Montreal leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Montreal 72: Montreal leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Montreal 60: Montreal leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Montreal 45: Colombo leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Montreal 76: Montreal leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Montreal 57: Montreal leads by 9 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Montreal.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Montreal
Best match
61match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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

Montreal in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
98 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboMontreal

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Montreal: 1991-2020 normals, Montreal McTavish (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboMontreal
Official languageTamil, SinhalaFrench, English
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110911
Elevation1 m31 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsMontreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)16 km from centre166 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboMontreal
City population647,5571,895,211
People per km²17,3613,806
Museums within 10 km1037
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Montreal 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.