VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Galle or Guilin?

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 Galle for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Guilin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Guilin’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. Galle 80, Guilin 8: Galle leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Guilin 45: Galle leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Guilin 40: Galle leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Guilin 30: Guilin leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Guilin 88: Guilin leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Guilin 56: Guilin leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Guilin 45: Guilin leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Guilin 45: Guilin leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Guilin 28: Galle leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Guilin 78: Guilin leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Guilin 30: Guilin leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Guilin 40: Galle leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Guilin.

Your match

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

Galle
Best match
48match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Guilin
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Galle in July

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

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GalleGuilin

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. Galle: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleGuilin
Official languageTamil, SinhalaPutonghua
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation0 m153 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleGuilin
City population93,1184,931,137
Museums within 10 km21
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galle or Guilin 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.