

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; The Hague by Bráulio jardim, Pexels License.
Galle or The Hague?
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 The Hague for
- live music and the arts
- getting around
- day trips
What lies behind each score is written up on The Hague’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and The Hague.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.
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
The Hague in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
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.
The Hague 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.
The Hague's sunshine is measured 60 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. The Hague: 1991-2020 normals, Valkenburg (13.6 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Galle | The Hague |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Tamil, Sinhala | Dutch |
| Currency | Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | GM230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110 | 112 |
| Elevation | 0 m | 1 m |
| Main airport | Bandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinations | Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)16 km from centre53 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | - | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Galle | The Hague |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 93,118 | 548,320 |
| People per km² | - | 5,589 |
| Museums within 10 km | 2 | 54 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 4 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | None |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galle or The Hague somewhere new.