VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Colombo or Wilmington?

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
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Wilmington 48: Colombo leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Wilmington 40: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Wilmington 58: Wilmington leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Wilmington 45: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Wilmington 28: Colombo leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Wilmington 33: Colombo leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Wilmington 42: Colombo leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Wilmington 33: Colombo leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on families 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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboWilmington
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 m9 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboWilmington
City population647,557115,451
People per km²17,361839
Museums within 10 km102
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Wilmington 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.