VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
Stortorget in Gamla stan, Stockholm
StockholmStortorget in Gamla stan

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Stockholm by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Colombo or Stockholm?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Stockholm for

  • getting around
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Stockholm’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, Stockholm 40: Colombo leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Stockholm 64: Colombo leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Stockholm 77: Stockholm leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Stockholm 57: Stockholm leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Stockholm 72: Stockholm leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Stockholm 68: Stockholm leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Stockholm 82: Stockholm leads by 47 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Stockholm 84: Stockholm leads by 49 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Stockholm 70: Stockholm leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Stockholm 30: Colombo leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Stockholm 65: Stockholm leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Stockholm 56: Stockholm leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Stockholm.

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.

Stockholm
Best match
64match

Wins on getting around 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

Stockholm in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
65 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboStockholm

Where the figures come from

Stockholm has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Stockholm's sunshine is measured 26 km from the centre, at Stockholm Observatoriet.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Stockholm: 2003-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Stockholm Bromma Airport (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboStockholm
Official languageTamil, SinhalaSwedish
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Swedish Krona (SEK)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation1 m22 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsStockholm-Arlanda Airport (ARN)36 km from centre174 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboStockholm
City population647,557984,748
People per km²17,3615,260
Museums within 10 km10266
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
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 Stockholm 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.