VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
Playa de los Muertos below the green hills, Puerto Vallarta
Puerto VallartaPlaya de los Muertos below the green hills

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Puerto Vallarta by RL0919, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Galle or Puerto Vallarta?

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

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Puerto Vallarta for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Vallarta’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, Puerto Vallarta 85: Puerto Vallarta leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Puerto Vallarta 62: Puerto Vallarta leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Puerto Vallarta 28: Galle leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Puerto Vallarta 66: Puerto Vallarta leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Puerto Vallarta 76: Puerto Vallarta leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Puerto Vallarta 55: Puerto Vallarta leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Puerto Vallarta 65: Puerto Vallarta leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Puerto Vallarta 45: Puerto Vallarta leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Puerto Vallarta 42: Puerto Vallarta leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Puerto Vallarta 60: Galle leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Puerto Vallarta 32: Puerto Vallarta leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Puerto Vallarta 52: Galle leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Puerto Vallarta.

Your match

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

Galle
48match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

Puerto Vallarta
Best match
56match

Wins on nightlife and families 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
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Puerto Vallarta in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
209 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GallePuerto Vallarta

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.

Puerto Vallarta 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. Puerto Vallarta: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureGallePuerto Vallarta
Official languageTamil, SinhalaSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110911
Elevation0 m101 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)5 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-9 days

By the numbers

MeasureGallePuerto Vallarta
City population93,118224,166
People per km²-4,311
Museums within 10 km22
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galle or Puerto Vallarta 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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.