VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Galle or Valletta?

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
  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Valletta for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Galle leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Valletta 55: Valletta leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Valletta 46: Valletta leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Valletta 56: Galle leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Valletta 38: Valletta leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Valletta 50: Galle leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Valletta 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 Valletta.

Your match

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

Galle
48match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Valletta
Best match
55match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleValletta

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. Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleValletta
Official languageTamil, SinhalaEnglish, Maltese
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation0 m56 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleValletta
City population93,1185,197
People per km²-6,496
Museums within 10 km216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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