VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The cathedral facade, Siena
SienaThe cathedral facade

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Siena by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Galle or Siena?

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 Siena for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Siena’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, Siena 14: Galle leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Siena 62: Siena leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Siena 78: Siena leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Siena 27: Siena leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Siena 65: Galle leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Siena 94: Siena leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Siena 38: Galle leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Siena 60: Siena leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Siena 35: Siena leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Siena 42: Galle leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Siena 36: Siena leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Siena 55: Galle leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Siena.

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.

Siena
Best match
51match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts 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

Siena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleSiena

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.

Siena's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Arezzo.

Siena 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.

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. Siena: 2006-2017 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Arezzo (45 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleSiena
Official languageTamil, SinhalaItalian
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation0 m322 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)55 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleSiena
City population93,11852,812
People per km²-446
Museums within 10 km230
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
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 Siena 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.