VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Colombo or Tampa?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Tampa for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Tampa 57: Colombo leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Tampa 42: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Tampa 52: Tampa leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Tampa 55: Tampa leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Tampa 22: Colombo leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Tampa 40: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Tampa 40: Colombo leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Tampa 47: Tampa leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Tampa 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 Tampa.

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.

Tampa
Best match
49match

Wins on families and nature and the outdoors 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboTampa
Official languageTamil, Sinhala-
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110911
Elevation1 m30 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboTampa
City population647,557384,959
People per km²17,361848
Museums within 10 km106
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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