VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
Castle Square and the Royal Castle, Warsaw
WarsawCastle Square and the Royal Castle

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Warsaw by Raymond Petrik, Pexels License.

Colombo or Warsaw?

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
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Warsaw for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Warsaw’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, Warsaw 12: Colombo leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Warsaw 60: Colombo leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Warsaw 70: Warsaw leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Warsaw 66: Warsaw leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Warsaw 47: Warsaw leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Warsaw 52: Warsaw leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Warsaw 62: Warsaw leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Warsaw 72: Warsaw leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Warsaw 55: Warsaw leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Warsaw 64: Colombo leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Warsaw 63: Warsaw leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Warsaw 35: Colombo leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Warsaw.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Warsaw
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around 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

Warsaw in July

25 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboWarsaw

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Warsaw: 1991-2020 normals, Warszawa-Okecie (7.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboWarsaw
Official languageTamil, SinhalaPolish
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation1 m118 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsWarsaw Chopin Airport (WAW)8 km from centre172 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboWarsaw
City population647,5571,862,402
People per km²17,3613,601
Museums within 10 km10117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Warsaw 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). 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.