VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Galle or Rotterdam?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotterdam’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, Rotterdam 27: Galle leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Rotterdam 44: Galle leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Rotterdam 38: Galle leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Rotterdam 42: Galle leads by 28 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Rotterdam.

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.

Rotterdam
Best match
55match

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

Rotterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleRotterdam

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.

Rotterdam has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Rotterdam's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

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. Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleRotterdam
Official languageTamil, SinhalaDutch
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation0 m10 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleRotterdam
City population93,118664,311
People per km²-2,080
Museums within 10 km240
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
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 Rotterdam 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.