VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Galle for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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. Fort Lauderdale 88, Galle 80: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Galle 50: Galle leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Galle 55: Galle leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, Galle 18: Fort Lauderdale leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Galle 66: Galle leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, Galle 50: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, Galle 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, Galle 35: Galle leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, Galle 33: Fort Lauderdale leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Galle 72: Galle leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Galle 10: Fort Lauderdale leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 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: Fort Lauderdale and Galle.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Fort Lauderdale
50match

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

Galle
48match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Galle in July

28 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
116 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Fort LauderdaleGalle

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. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Galle: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleGalle
Official language-Tamil, Sinhala
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number911Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation11 m0 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleGalle
City population182,76093,118
People per km²1,829-
Museums within 10 km62
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Fort Lauderdale 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). 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. 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.

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.