VacationSelector
The beach with the bay and the skyline behind, Acapulco
AcapulcoThe beach with the bay and the skyline behind
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Acapulco by Felicia Navarrete, Pexels License; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Acapulco 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 Acapulco for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

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. Acapulco 80, Cartagena 70: Acapulco leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Acapulco 55, Cartagena 62: Cartagena leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Acapulco 28, Cartagena 68: Cartagena leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Acapulco 64, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Acapulco 50, Cartagena 46: Acapulco leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Acapulco 15, Cartagena 33: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Acapulco 45, Cartagena 40: Acapulco leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Acapulco 30, Cartagena 54: Cartagena leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Acapulco 32, Cartagena 48: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Acapulco 74, Cartagena 60: Acapulco leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Acapulco 26, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Acapulco 32, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Acapulco and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Acapulco
44match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Acapulco in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
226 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AcapulcoCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Acapulco: 1991-2020 normals, Acapulco, Gro. (5.9 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAcapulcoCartagena
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation18 m2 m
Main airportGeneral Juan N. Álvarez International Airport (ACA)18 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureAcapulcoCartagena
City population658,609914,552
People per km²3501,599
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Acapulco 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.