VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Colombo or Wellington?

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 Wellington for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Colombo leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Wellington 62: Colombo leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Wellington 44: Colombo leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Wellington 40: Colombo leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Wellington 42: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Wellington 33: Colombo leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Wellington 30: Colombo leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Wellington.

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.

Wellington
Best match
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboWellington
Official languageTamil, SinhalaEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110111
Elevation1 m0 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboWellington
City population647,557216,200
People per km²17,361487
Museums within 10 km1012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Wellington 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.