VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
Elizabeth Quay and the centre of Perth, Perth
PerthElizabeth Quay and the centre of Perth

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Perth by Samuel Wiki, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Colombo or Perth?

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
  • wellness
  • food and drink

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

Choose Perth for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Perth’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, Perth 86: Perth leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Perth 58: Colombo leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Perth 42: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Perth 42: Perth leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Perth 72: Perth leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Perth 48: Colombo leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Perth 74: Perth leads by 39 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Perth 55: Perth leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Perth 44: Colombo leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Perth 28: Colombo leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Perth 50: Perth leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Perth 38: Colombo leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Perth.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Perth
Best match
53match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families 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

Perth in July

19 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
20 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboPerth

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Perth: 1991-2020 normals, Perth (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboPerth
Official languageTamil, SinhalaEnglish
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110000
Elevation1 m2 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsPerth International Airport (PER)10 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboPerth
City population647,5572,141,834
People per km²17,361334
Museums within 10 km1015
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Perth 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.