VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Galle or Wellington?

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
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Wellington for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Galle leads by 47 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Wellington 44: Galle leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Wellington 40: Galle leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Wellington 42: Wellington leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Wellington 33: Galle leads by 39 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Wellington 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 Wellington.

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 beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

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

28 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
116 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleWellington

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.

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

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. Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleWellington
Official languageTamil, SinhalaEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110111
Elevation0 m0 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleWellington
City population93,118216,200
People per km²-487
Museums within 10 km212
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galle or Wellington 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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.