VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
Puente de San Martín over the Tagus, Toledo
ToledoPuente de San Martín over the Tagus

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Toledo by Ввласенко, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Colombo or Toledo?

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

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Toledo for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Toledo’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, Toledo 5: Colombo leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Toledo 40: Colombo leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Toledo 79: Toledo leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Toledo 22: Colombo leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Toledo 40: Toledo leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Toledo 78: Toledo leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Toledo 45: Toledo leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Toledo 64: Toledo leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Toledo 32: Colombo leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Toledo 58: Colombo leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Toledo 22: Colombo leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Toledo 30: Colombo leads by 18 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Colombo
Best match
46match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Toledo
43match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around 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

Toledo in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
6 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboToledo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Toledo: 1991-2020 normals, Toledo (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboToledo
Official languageTamil, SinhalaSpanish
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 m523 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)80 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboToledo
City population647,55787,216
People per km²17,361376
Museums within 10 km1013
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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