VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
White sand and turquoise water at Pensacola Beach, Pensacola
PensacolaWhite sand and turquoise water at Pensacola Beach

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Pensacola by Jason Meredith, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Colombo or Pensacola?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Pensacola for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Pensacola’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, Pensacola 84: Pensacola leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Pensacola 45: Colombo leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo and Pensacola are level on 45.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Pensacola 42: Pensacola leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Pensacola 62: Pensacola leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Pensacola 45: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Pensacola 62: Pensacola leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Pensacola 18: Colombo leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Pensacola 28: Colombo leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Pensacola 44: Colombo leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Pensacola 36: Pensacola leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Pensacola 30: Colombo leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Pensacola.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Pensacola
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Pensacola in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboPensacola

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Pensacola: 1991-2020 normals, Pensacola / Pleasant Grove (12.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboPensacola
Official languageTamil, Sinhala-
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110911
Elevation1 m31 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)6 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboPensacola
City population647,55754,312
People per km²17,361515
Museums within 10 km105
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Pensacola 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.