Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.
Galle or Kyoto?
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 Kyoto for
- live music and the arts
- day trips
- culture and sights
What lies behind each score is written up on Kyoto’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Kyoto.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.
Wins on live music and the arts and day trips 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
Kyoto in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
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.
Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.
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. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Galle | Kyoto |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Tamil, Sinhala | Japanese |
| Currency | Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR) | Yen (JPY) |
| Sockets | GM230 V, 50 Hz | AB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region |
| Driving side | Left | Left |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 | UTC+9 |
| Emergency number | Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110 | Police 110, fire 119 |
| Elevation | 0 m | 51 m |
| Main airport | Bandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinations | Kansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | - | 16 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Galle | Kyoto |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 93,118 | 1,463,723 |
| People per km² | - | 1,768 |
| Museums within 10 km | 2 | 77 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 4 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | 5 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galle or Kyoto somewhere new.