VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Galle or Samarkand?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Samarkand’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, Samarkand 4: Galle leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Samarkand 14: Galle leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Samarkand 40: Galle leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Samarkand 30: Galle leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Samarkand 42: Samarkand leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Samarkand 24: Samarkand leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Samarkand 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 Samarkand.

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.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights 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

Samarkand in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleSamarkand

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. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleSamarkand
Official languageTamil, SinhalaUzbek
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation0 m702 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureGalleSamarkand
City population93,118546,303
People per km²-5,058
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Samarkand 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. 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.