VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Colombo or Seattle?

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
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Seattle for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Colombo leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Colombo and Seattle are level on 66.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Seattle 50: Seattle leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 55 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Seattle 22: Colombo leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Seattle 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 Seattle.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboSeattle
City population647,557737,015
People per km²17,3611,996
Museums within 10 km1027
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Seattle 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.