VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Galle or Lima?

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

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Lima for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Lima’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, Lima 42: Galle leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Lima 88: Lima leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Lima 66: Lima leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Lima 62: Lima leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Lima 45: Galle leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Lima 34: Galle leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Galle and Lima are level on 42.
Getting around. Galle and Lima are level on 35.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Lima 52: Lima leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Lima 70: Galle leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Lima 53: Lima leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Lima 25: Galle leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Lima.

Your match

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

Galle
48match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Lima
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife 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
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleLima

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. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleLima
Official languageTamil, SinhalaSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Sol (PEN)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110111 or 911
Elevation0 m154 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleLima
City population93,1189,943,800
People per km²-3,721
Museums within 10 km247
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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