VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The skyline reflected in the water, The Hague
The HagueThe skyline reflected in the water

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; The Hague by Bráulio jardim, Pexels License.

Colombo or The Hague?

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
  • food and drink
  • beaches

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

Choose The Hague for

  • getting around
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on The Hague’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, The Hague 38: Colombo leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, The Hague 48: Colombo leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, The Hague 66: The Hague leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, The Hague 38: The Hague leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, The Hague 52: The Hague leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, The Hague 86: The Hague leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, The Hague 72: The Hague leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, The Hague 78: The Hague leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, The Hague 55: The Hague leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, The Hague 35: Colombo leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, The Hague 58: The Hague leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, The Hague 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 The Hague.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

The Hague
Best match
56match

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

The Hague in July

21 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboThe Hague

Where the figures come from

The Hague 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.

The Hague's sunshine is measured 60 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). The Hague: 1991-2020 normals, Valkenburg (13.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboThe Hague
Official languageTamil, SinhalaDutch
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Euro (EUR)
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 m1 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)16 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboThe Hague
City population647,557548,320
People per km²17,3615,589
Museums within 10 km1054
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
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 The Hague 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.