VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Galle or Helsinki?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Helsinki for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Helsinki’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, Helsinki 28: Galle leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Helsinki 52: Helsinki leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Helsinki 60: Helsinki leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Helsinki 50: Helsinki leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Helsinki 58: Galle leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Helsinki 62: Helsinki leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Helsinki 76: Helsinki leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Helsinki 86: Helsinki leads by 51 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Helsinki 62: Helsinki leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Helsinki 30: Galle leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Helsinki 63: Helsinki leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Helsinki 82: Helsinki leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Helsinki.

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.

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around 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

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleHelsinki

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. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleHelsinki
Official languageTamil, SinhalaFinnish, Swedish
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation0 m17 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleHelsinki
City population93,118694,392
People per km²-3,239
Museums within 10 km274
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galle or Helsinki 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.