2.58/5
100 reviews
Photo by Lahiru Supunchandra via Unsplash

Galle

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great

coffee

work

scene

Galle is a charming town with Portuguese and Dutch colonial influence, offering great food options, better than Colombo. While the food scene is enjoyable, it can become repetitive after a while. The coffee scene is notably lacking, and some cafes do not allow remote work. Internet speed is decent but can be unreliable, and frequent electricity outages further impact productivity.

The town and surrounding areas offer plenty of activities and sights to explore. It has beautiful beaches just a short drive away, making it a great spot for tourists. The people are very friendly, adding to the welcoming atmosphere. However, for digital nomads, the instability of internet and power makes it less than ideal as a work destination.

Overall, Galle is a great place to visit, but it may not be the best choice for remote work.

AI-generated summary of reviews

Galle is a cute, small, Portuguese and Dutch colonial-style town with great food options - better than Colombo. Some coffee shops won't let you work, but great beaches are just a few minutes' drive away.

1 year ago

I didn't stay at Galle directly. I stayed in Weligama which is a beach city half an hour ride from Galle.

The internet speed is quite decent (50mbps) but it's very unstable. I also experienced lot of electricity outages. Overall, in terms of work productivity, not the best.

Food scene is quite good, but it gets boring after a week or so. Regarding the coffee scene, it's terrible.

There is lots of fun things to do and places to see. People here are very friendly, but for me, the place is more of a tourist destination than Nomad Hotspot.

1 year ago

✅ Good food options

✅ Friendly people

✅ Lots of things to do

✅ Great beaches nearby

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ High quality of education

✅ Roads are pretty safe

✅ Democratic

✅ LGBTQ+ friendly

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

✅ Not a lot of alcohol abuse

❌ Unstable internet

❌ Frequent electricity outages

❌ Limited coffee scene

❌ Not ideal for remote work

❌ Freedom of speech is weak

❌ Very sweaty and humid now

❌ Nomads.com members didn't like going here

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Difficult to do business

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Not safe for women

❌ Not family friendly

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels

81 27°
warm

82 28°
warm

81 27°
warm

82 28°
warm

81 27°
warm

82 28°
warm

Real

81 27°
warm

82 28°
very warm

81 27°
warm

80 27°
warm

82 28°
very warm

80 27°
warm

82 28°
very warm

Humidity

nice
44%

nice
42%

nice
41%

nice
43%

nice
44%

nice
45%

nice
44%

nice
43%

Most common

☔️ Rain

Rain

dry
37mm

rainy
72mm

rainy
75mm

rainy
157mm

rainy
290mm

rainy
280mm

rainy
227mm

rainy
219mm

rainy
251mm

rainy
273mm

rainy
259mm

rainy
157mm

Cloud

cloudy
50%

pockets
33%

pockets
44%

pockets
40%

cloudy
54%

pockets
49%

cloudy
55%

cloudy
56%

cloudy
52%

cloudy
55%

pockets
41%

Sun

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

Remote workers

325 people

525 people

343 people

360 people

0 people

200 people

360 people

200 people

233 people

300 people

333 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Not all nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Galle's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	UX UI Designer @ 1840 & Company
	Member of Product Design Core Exper... @ Anchorage Digital
	Senior DevOps Engineer @ Twingate
	Data Science Manager @ Netomi
	Staff Engineer Gaming Backend @ Voodoo
	Senior Software Engineer GoUSD @ BitGo
	Mobile Engineer Mid Level @ CoinGecko
	Senior Fullstack Engineer EMEA @ Aircall
	Lead Product Designer @ AllTrails
	Marketing Lead @ Flow Foundation
	Software Engineer Front End @ Pendo

Help pick the best photos for Galle and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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Members here right now

No members are here right now. If you are, add it as a trip and you'll show up here!

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Not all nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.58/5 (Rank #361) 100 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍3 liked it 👎1 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,479 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 11Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 28°C83°F (feels 32°C90°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 78%
👌 Safety	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Okay
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Good
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very low: $326 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Okay
🚶 Walkability	Bad
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Okay
📶 Free WiFi in city	Okay
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Okay
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Okay
👩 Female friendly	Bad
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Okay
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	Sri Lanka
🗓️ Average trip length	10 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	11 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 28°C 83°F + 🥵 Sweaty (78%) = feels 32°C 90°F
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Pickme
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 1,000 LKR in USD	USD 3.38
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	LKR 100,000 = USD 338
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners)
☕️ Best coffee place	The Old Railway Cafe
☕️ Best alt. coffee place	Lemongrass Cafe
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	Nomad Trails Thalpe Station
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👎3% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	99,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$3,910 / year
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 73% 👱‍♀️ 28%
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Sri Lankan Airlines
🏥 Best hospital	Teaching Hospital Mahamodara

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$1,479 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$713 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$1,083 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$310 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,103 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,461 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$417 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$52 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$48 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$218 / month
🍛 Dinner	$3
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$1
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$1,352 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$1 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$1 / trip