VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Galle or Santa Marta?

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
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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, Santa Marta 70: Galle leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Santa Marta 44: Galle leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Santa Marta 34: Galle leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Santa Marta 38: Galle leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Santa Marta 40: Galle leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Santa Marta 27: Galle leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Santa Marta 17: Santa Marta leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Santa Marta 30: Galle leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Galle
48match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on nightlife and nature and the outdoors 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

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleSanta Marta

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. Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleSanta Marta
Official languageTamil, SinhalaSpanish
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110123
Elevation0 m8 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleSanta Marta
City population93,118505,915
People per km²-1,723
Museums within 10 km23
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Santa Marta 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.