VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Colombo or Thessaloniki?

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

  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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 and Thessaloniki are level on 55.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Thessaloniki 74: Thessaloniki leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Thessaloniki 60: Thessaloniki leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Thessaloniki 66: Colombo leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Thessaloniki 52: Thessaloniki leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Thessaloniki 33: Colombo leads by 15 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Thessaloniki.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

Wins on nightlife 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

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboThessaloniki
Official languageTamil, SinhalaGreek
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation1 m6 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboThessaloniki
City population647,557309,617
People per km²17,36116,042
Museums within 10 km1032
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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