VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Galle or Xi'an?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Xi'an for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Xi'an’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, Xi'an 4: Galle leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Xi'an 62: Galle leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Xi'an 40: Galle leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Galle
48match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleXi'an

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. Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleXi'an
Official languageTamil, SinhalaPutonghua
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation0 m405 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleXi'an
City population93,11812,952,907
People per km²-1,283
Museums within 10 km29
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
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 Xi'an 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.