VacationSelector
The Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica in Fort Kochi, Kochi
KochiThe Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica in Fort Kochi
The lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-SheikhThe lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh

Photos: Kochi by Vis M, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sharm el-Sheikh by Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Kochi or Sharm el-Sheikh?

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 Kochi for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Sharm el-Sheikh for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Sharm el-Sheikh’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. Kochi 38, Sharm el-Sheikh 87: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Kochi 66, Sharm el-Sheikh 30: Kochi leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Kochi 62, Sharm el-Sheikh 12: Kochi leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Kochi 18, Sharm el-Sheikh 42: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kochi 55, Sharm el-Sheikh 82: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Kochi 52, Sharm el-Sheikh 30: Kochi leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Kochi 40, Sharm el-Sheikh 62: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Kochi 44, Sharm el-Sheikh 22: Kochi leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Kochi 45, Sharm el-Sheikh 25: Kochi leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Kochi 88, Sharm el-Sheikh 74: Kochi leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kochi 40, Sharm el-Sheikh 10: Kochi leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kochi 70, Sharm el-Sheikh 50: Kochi leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kochi and Sharm el-Sheikh.

Your match

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

Kochi
Best match
52match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink with your weighting.

Sharm el-Sheikh
44match

Wins on beaches 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.

Kochi in July

27 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
439 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Sharm el-Sheikh in July

38 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
KochiSharm el-Sheikh

Where the figures come from

Kochi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Sharm el-Sheikh has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kochi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Sharm el-Sheikh: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureKochiSharm el-Sheikh
Official languageHindi, EnglishArabic
CurrencyIndian Rupee (INR)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number108 or 112Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation0 m1 m
Main airportCochin International Airport (COK)24 km from centre36 non-stop destinationsSharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH)16 km from centre112 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureKochiSharm el-Sheikh
City population677,38173,000
People per km²7,138-
Museums within 10 km41
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kochi or Sharm el-Sheikh somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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). 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.