VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Galle?

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 Cartagena for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Galle for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Galle’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. Cartagena 70, Galle 80: Galle leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Galle 50: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Galle 55: Cartagena leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Galle 18: Cartagena leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Galle 66: Galle leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Galle 50: Galle leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Galle 42: Galle leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Galle 35: Cartagena leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Galle 33: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Galle 72: Galle leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Galle 10: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Galle 70: Galle leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Galle.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Galle
48match

Wins on wellness 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.

Cartagena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
124 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Galle in July

28 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
116 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaGalle

Where the figures come from

Galle 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. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Galle: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaGalle
Official languageSpanishTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+5:30
Emergency number123Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation2 m0 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaGalle
City population914,55293,118
People per km²1,599-
Museums within 10 km22
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Cartagena or Galle 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.