VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Galle or Nairobi?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Nairobi for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Nairobi’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, Nairobi 4: Galle leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Nairobi 48: Galle leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Nairobi 35: Galle leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Nairobi 58: Nairobi leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Nairobi 28: Galle leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Nairobi 55: Nairobi leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Nairobi 20: Galle leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Nairobi 45: Nairobi leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Nairobi 60: Galle leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Nairobi 35: Nairobi leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Nairobi 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 Nairobi.

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.

Nairobi
41match

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

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleNairobi

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. Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleNairobi
Official languageTamil, SinhalaEnglish, Swahili
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation0 m1,661 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleNairobi
City population93,1185,545,000
People per km²-7,967
Museums within 10 km24
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Nairobi 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.