3.43/5
105 reviews
Photo by Lahiru Supunchandra via Unsplash

Galle

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great

coffee

work

scene

Galle and its nearby areas like Weligama offer a charming coastal experience with colonial architecture, great beaches within easy reach, and a generally friendly atmosphere. The food scene is solid, with options considered better than Colombo, although some users felt it became repetitive after about a week. Coffee options are limited and not ideal for people who depend on a strong café culture, especially for work purposes.

The internet speeds are decent at around 50 Mbps, but stability issues and frequent power outages can make remote work unreliable. Additionally, some coffee shops don't allow customers to work, limiting work-friendly locations. While there's plenty to explore and enjoy from a tourist perspective, it may not be best suited for long-term digital nomads looking for consistent productivity.

Overall, the area is more of a laid-back vacation spot than a digital nomad hub. It’s better suited for those prioritizing leisure and coastal living over work efficiency or café-hopping lifestyle.

AI-generated summary of reviews
1 year ago

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.

3 years 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.

3 years ago

✅ Friendly people

✅ Great food options

✅ Fun things to do

✅ 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 power outages

❌ Poor coffee scene

❌ Freedom of speech is weak

❌ Very sweaty and humid 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 (median)

3188°
hot

3290°
hot

3391°
hot

3290°
hot

3086°
warm

3391°
hot

3086°
warm

3290°
hot

Real (median)

2781°
warm

2882°
very warm

2781°
warm

2780°
warm

2882°
very warm

2780°
warm

2882°
very warm

Humidity

sweaty
83%

sweaty
80%

sweaty
82%

sweaty
85%

sweaty
86%

sweaty
87%

sweaty
86%

sweaty
85%

sweaty
83%

Most common

☔️ Rain

Rain

dry
37mm

rainy
72mm

rainy
76mm

rainy
158mm

rainy
290mm

rainy
281mm

rainy
228mm

rainy
220mm

rainy
251mm

rainy
274mm

rainy
260mm

rainy
158mm

Cloud

cloudy
76%

cloudy
61%

cloudy
70%

cloudy
86%

cloudy
84%

cloudy
88%

cloudy
89%

cloudy
86%

cloudy
84%

cloudy
87%

cloudy
73%

Sun

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

Remote workers

975 people

1,667 people

975 people

1,029 people

600 people

1,320 people

600 people

686 people

750 people

1,200 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.

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

Current weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0)

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

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

137pts

64pts

40pts

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28pts

10pts

7pts

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111pts

53pts

39pts

34pts

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27pts

9pts

7pts

5pts

4pts

3pts

2pts

1pts

95pts

43pts

37pts

34pts

31pts

29pts

10pts

8pts

7pts

5pts

3pts

2pts

1pts

Weligama

Sri Lanka

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🙂 Okay

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 34° 93° 29° 84° 🥵 AQI 64 😷

🚕49min

$2,722 / mo

21 Mbps

Matara

Sri Lanka

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 34° 93° 29° 84° 🥵 AQI 60 😷

🚕1h

$1,289 / mo

23 Mbps

Colombo

Sri Lanka

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 34° 93° 29° 84° 🥵 AQI 28

🚕3h

$1,981 / mo

19 Mbps

Kandy

Sri Lanka

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 33° 91° 28° 82° 🥵 AQI 40

✈️12min

$1,248 / mo

23 Mbps

Arugam Bay

Sri Lanka

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😝 Cheap

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 41° 106° 32° 90° 🥵 AQI 39

✈️16min

$974 / mo

9 Mbps

Thiruvananthapuram

India

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 33° 91° 28° 82° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 25

✈️36min

$1,391 / mo

9 Mbps

Varkala

India

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 35° 95° 29° 83° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 48

✈️39min

$1,077 / mo

11 Mbps

Madurai

India

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety bad

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 49° 120° 35° 95° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 70 😷

✈️39min

$1,058 / mo

11 Mbps

Kollam

India

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😝 Cheap

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 33° 91° 28° 82° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 26

✈️41min

$864 / mo

10 Mbps

Kochi

India

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😝 Cheap

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 34° 93° 28° 83° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 48

✈️49min

$829 / mo

11 Mbps

Tirupur

India

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😝 Cheap

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 47° 117° 34° 94° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 68 😷

✈️52min

$920 / mo

15 Mbps

Coimbatore

India

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 41° 106° 32° 89° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 61 😷

✈️53min

$1,052 / mo

11 Mbps

Bangkok

Thailand

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 45° 113° 32° 90° Has AC AQI 61 😷

✈️3h

$1,648 / mo

32 Mbps

London

United Kingdom

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69° AQI 26

✈️12h

$8,464 / mo

23 Mbps

Amsterdam

Netherlands

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 17° 63° 17° 63° AQI 36

✈️11h

$6,746 / mo

15 Mbps

Berlin

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 19° 66° 19° 66° AQI 31

✈️11h

$5,527 / mo

32 Mbps

Moscow

Russia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🙂 Okay

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 18° 64° 18° 64° AQI 42

✈️9h

$2,760 / mo

9 Mbps

Lisbon

Portugal

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 36° 97° 32° 90° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 15

✈️13h

$5,079 / mo

100 Mbps

Singapore

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 40° 104° 32° 90° Has AC AQI 71 😷

✈️4h

$6,063 / mo

102 Mbps

Canggu, Bali

Indonesia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety bad

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 29° 84° 26° 79° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 143 😷

✈️6h

$3,296 / mo

25 Mbps

Reykjavik

Iceland

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked great

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 7° 45° 9° 48° AQI 17

✈️13h

$9,005 / mo

30 Mbps

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 41° 106° 32° 90° Has AC AQI 81 😷

✈️3h

$1,837 / mo

53 Mbps

Arendal

Norway

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety bad

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 17° 63° 17° 63° AQI 21

✈️11h

$6,734 / mo

134 Mbps

Colombo

Sri Lanka

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 34° 93° 29° 84° 🥵 AQI 28

🚕3h

$1,981 / mo

🌇 Also went here53 people

Phuket

Thailand

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 38° 100° 31° 88° Some AC 🥵 AQI 56 😷

✈️3h

$1,984 / mo

🌇 Also went here37 people

Bangkok

Thailand

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 45° 113° 32° 90° Has AC AQI 61 😷

✈️3h

$1,648 / mo

🌇 Also went here64 people

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 41° 106° 32° 90° Has AC AQI 81 😷

✈️3h

$1,837 / mo

🌇 Also went here55 people

Chiang Mai

Thailand

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 34° 93° 28° 82° Has AC AQI 18

✈️3h

$1,303 / mo

🌇 Also went here37 people

Singapore

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 40° 104° 32° 90° Has AC AQI 71 😷

✈️4h

$6,063 / mo

🌇 Also went here54 people

Dubai

United Arab Emirates

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 56° 133° 39° 102° Has AC AQI 153 😷

✈️5h

$6,480 / mo

🌇 Also went here39 people

Canggu, Bali

Indonesia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety bad

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 29° 84° 26° 79° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 143 😷

✈️6h

$3,296 / mo

🌇 Also went here37 people

Ubud, Bali

Indonesia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 29° 84° 26° 79° Barely AC 🥵 AQI 215 😷

✈️6h

$2,004 / mo

🌇 Also went here39 people

Istanbul

Turkey

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 30° 86° 28° 82° Has AC AQI 81 😷

✈️9h

$3,293 / mo

🌇 Also went here42 people

Berlin

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 19° 66° 19° 66° AQI 31

✈️11h

$5,527 / mo

🌇 Also went here35 people

Amsterdam

Netherlands

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 17° 63° 17° 63° AQI 36

✈️11h

$6,746 / mo

🌇 Also went here41 people

Barcelona

Spain

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 32° 90° 28° 82° Has AC AQI 47

✈️11h

$7,433 / mo

🌇 Also went here43 people

Paris

France

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 22° 72° 22° 72° AQI 28

✈️11h

$7,536 / mo

🌇 Also went here38 people

London

United Kingdom

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69° AQI 26

✈️12h

$8,464 / mo

🌇 Also went here39 people

600 remote workers in Galle now, of which 1+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

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. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital 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.

🎒 Nomad Score™	3.43/5 (Rank #186) 105 reviews
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
🤯 Overcrowding score	0% is nomad here
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,141 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 23 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 29°C84°F (feels 35°C95°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 83%
💨 Air quality (now)	😐 Moderate: 60 US AQI
👌 Safety	Okay
👩 Safe for women	Bad
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Okay
🤮 Food safety*	Okay
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Good
🌊 Resilience to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very poor: $326 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Okay
🚶 Walkability	Bad
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 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
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	Sri Lanka
🗓️ Average trip length	8 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	23 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 29°C 84°F + 🥵 Sweaty (83%) = feels 35°C 95°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 60 US AQI 🍃 OK
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Pickme
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 1,000 LKR in USD	USD 3.05
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	LKR 100,000 = USD 305
💳 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	👎4% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	340,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$3,910 / year
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 73% 👱‍♀️ 27%
⛪️ 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	$1,141 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$781 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$1,072 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$306 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$462 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,924 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$550 / month
🏠 Median home price	$152,380
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$22 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$63 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$121 / month
🍛 Dinner	$2
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$1
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$1,219 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$0 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$1 / trip

Galle

600 remote workers in Galle now, of which 1+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who have been here

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