VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Galle or Tirana?

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
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tirana for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Galle leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Tirana 57: Tirana leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Tirana 42: Galle leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Tirana 58: Tirana leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Tirana 62: Galle leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Tirana 64: Tirana leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Tirana 40: Galle leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Tirana 54: Tirana leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Tirana 32: Galle leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Tirana 76: Tirana leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Tirana 32: Tirana leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Tirana 27: Galle leads by 43 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Tirana.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Galle
48match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Tirana
49match

Wins on nightlife 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
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleTirana

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. Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleTirana
Official languageTamil, SinhalaAlbanian
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Lek (ALL)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation0 m110 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleTirana
City population93,118389,323
People per km²-9,314
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galle or Tirana 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.