VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Fukuoka 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 Fukuoka for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Galle for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • wellness

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. Fukuoka 50, Galle 80: Galle leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Galle 50: Fukuoka leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Galle 55: Galle leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Galle 18: Fukuoka leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Galle 66: Galle leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Galle 50: Fukuoka leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Galle 42: Fukuoka leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Galle 35: Fukuoka leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Galle 33: Fukuoka leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Galle 72: Galle leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Galle 10: Fukuoka leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Galle 70: Galle leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Galle.

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

Galle
48match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 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
FukuokaGalle

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. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Galle: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaGalle
Official languageJapaneseTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyYen (JPY)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation8 m0 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaGalle
City population1,603,04393,118
People per km²4,715-
Museums within 10 km232
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fukuoka 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.