VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Cartagena?

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 Abu Dhabi for

  • families
  • day trips
  • beaches

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Cartagena’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. Abu Dhabi 78, Cartagena 70: Abu Dhabi leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Cartagena 62: Cartagena leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Cartagena 68: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Cartagena 46: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Cartagena 33: Abu Dhabi leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Cartagena 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Cartagena 54: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Cartagena 48: Abu Dhabi leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Cartagena 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on families and day trips with your weighting.

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Abu Dhabi in July

43 °Cdaytime high
30 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Cartagena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
124 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiCartagena

Where the figures come from

Abu Dhabi's temperatures are measured 26 km from the centre, at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Abu Dhabi 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Abu Dhabi: 1991-2020 normals, Abu Dhabi International Airport (25.7 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiCartagena
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation14 m2 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiCartagena
City population1,570,000914,552
People per km²1,6151,599
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Cartagena somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.