VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
Charles Bridge and the Old Town Bridge Tower, Prague
PragueCharles Bridge and the Old Town Bridge Tower

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Prague by Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Colombo or Prague?

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
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Prague for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Prague’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, Prague 10: Colombo leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Prague 50: Colombo leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Prague 83: Prague leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Prague 65: Prague leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Prague 58: Prague leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Prague 77: Prague leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Prague 50: Prague leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Prague 83: Prague leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Prague 50: Prague leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Prague 62: Colombo leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Prague 76: Prague leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Prague 40: Colombo leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Prague.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Prague
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts 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

Prague in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
76 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboPrague

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Prague: 1991-2020 normals, Praha-Libus (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboPrague
Official languageTamil, SinhalaCzech
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Czech Koruna (CZK)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation1 m235 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsVáclav Havel Airport Prague (PRG)12 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboPrague
City population647,5571,397,880
People per km²17,3612,817
Museums within 10 km1088
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 Prague 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.