VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Galle or Salvador?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Salvador for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Salvador’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, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Salvador 66: Salvador leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Salvador 74: Salvador leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Salvador 52: Galle leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Salvador 56: Salvador leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Galle and Salvador are level on 42.
Getting around. Galle 35, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Salvador 70: Galle leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Salvador 32: Galle leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Salvador.

Your match

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

Galle
48match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Salvador
Best match
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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

Salvador in July

27 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
201 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleSalvador

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. Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleSalvador
Official languageTamil, SinhalaPortuguese
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation0 m8 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleSalvador
City population93,1182,417,678
People per km²-3,489
Museums within 10 km249
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 Salvador 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). 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.