VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Galle or York?

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 York for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on York’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, York 14: Galle leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, York 42: Galle leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, York 70: York leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, York 36: York leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, York 62: Galle leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, York 80: York leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, York 60: York leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, York 72: York leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, York 46: York leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, York 38: Galle leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, York 38: York leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, York 34: Galle leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and York.

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.

York
49match

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

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleYork

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.

York 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.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

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. York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleYork
Official languageTamil, SinhalaEnglish
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112 or 999
Elevation0 m25 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-8 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleYork
City population93,118208,400
People per km²-766
Museums within 10 km224
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 York 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.