VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Colombo or Sydney?

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

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

Choose Sydney for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 53 points.
Day trips. Colombo and Sydney are level on 50.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Sydney 22: Colombo leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Sydney 55: Sydney leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Sydney.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

Sydney
Best match
66match

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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboSydney
Official languageTamil, SinhalaEnglish
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110000
Elevation1 m6 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboSydney
City population647,5575,450,496
People per km²17,361449
Museums within 10 km1038
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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