VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Colombo or Santa Monica?

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
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Santa Monica 60: Colombo leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Santa Monica 35: Colombo leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Santa Monica 14: Colombo leads by 64 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Santa Monica 45: Colombo leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboSanta Monica
Official languageTamil, Sinhala-
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110911
Elevation1 m32 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboSanta Monica
City population647,55793,076
People per km²17,3614,270
Museums within 10 km1019
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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