VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Colombo or Washington DC?

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
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • culture and sights
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Colombo leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Washington DC 28: Colombo leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Washington DC 26: Colombo leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on culture and sights 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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboWashington DC
City population647,557689,545
People per km²17,3613,896
Museums within 10 km1098
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

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