VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License.

Galle or Hamburg?

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
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Hamburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Hamburg’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, Hamburg 28: Galle leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Hamburg 55: Hamburg leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Hamburg 62: Hamburg leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Hamburg 76: Hamburg leads by 58 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Hamburg 52: Galle leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Hamburg 70: Hamburg leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Hamburg 74: Hamburg leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Hamburg 80: Hamburg leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Hamburg 65: Hamburg leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Hamburg 38: Galle leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Hamburg 80: Hamburg leads by 70 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Hamburg 44: Galle leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Hamburg.

Your match

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

Galle
48match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Hamburg
Best match
60match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Hamburg in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleHamburg

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. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleHamburg
Official languageTamil, SinhalaGerman
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation0 m6 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleHamburg
City population93,1181,869,473
People per km²-2,476
Museums within 10 km277
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 Hamburg 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.