VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped.

Colombo or Rio de Janeiro?

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 Rio de Janeiro for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’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, Rio de Janeiro 92: Rio de Janeiro leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Rio de Janeiro 62: Colombo leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Rio de Janeiro 68: Rio de Janeiro leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Rio de Janeiro 80: Rio de Janeiro leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Rio de Janeiro 90: Rio de Janeiro leads by 58 points.
Day trips. Colombo and Rio de Janeiro are level on 50.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Rio de Janeiro 44: Rio de Janeiro leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Rio de Janeiro 60: Colombo leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Rio de Janeiro 66: Rio de Janeiro leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Rio de Janeiro 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 Rio de Janeiro.

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.

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboRio de Janeiro

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureColomboRio de Janeiro
Official languageTamil, SinhalaPortuguese
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation1 m31 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboRio de Janeiro
City population647,5576,211,223
People per km²17,3614,930
Museums within 10 km1069
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Rio de Janeiro 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.