Colombo or The Maldives?

778 km apart, in Sri Lanka and Maldives. Each is scored month by month on the same ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. This is where they part, and when.

• Colombo Sri Lanka · best Jan, Feb, Mar
• The Maldives Maldives · best Jan, Feb, Mar

Month by month

Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high and its rainy days ("11d"). The pick goes to the better verdict; with the same verdict, to the higher score, unless the two are within a whisker of each other, when it is either. A month both would avoid is neither. A dot marks a busy month. Fares are the typical return from Bengaluru, in INR.

Before you go

• Cost of living — Colombo: very cheap, about 27% of the United States; The Maldives: cheap, about 51% of the United States.
• Currency — Colombo: Sri lankan rupee; The Maldives: Maldivian rufiyaa.
• Plugs — Colombo: type D and G, 230 V; The Maldives: type A and C and G and K and L, 230 V.
• Driving — Colombo: on the left; The Maldives: on the left.
• Travel advice — Colombo: no advice against travel; The Maldives: no advice against travel.

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.

Between them

778 km as the crow flies, about 1h 52m in the air.

The flight time is estimated from the distance. A road, train or bus is named only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each destination's page are where prices live.

Also compared

• Colombo or The Andaman Islands
• Colombo or Goa
• Colombo or Jaipur
• Colombo or Kathmandu
• Colombo or Kochi
• Colombo or Leh
• Colombo or Srinagar
• The Maldives or The Andaman Islands
• The Maldives or Goa
• The Maldives or Jaipur
• The Maldives or Kathmandu
• The Maldives or Kochi

Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. The comparison is the difference between two pages, not a third opinion.