VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Adelaide 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 Adelaide for

  • families
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Adelaide 68, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Cartagena 62: Adelaide leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Cartagena 68: Cartagena leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Cartagena 46: Adelaide leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Cartagena 33: Adelaide leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Cartagena 40: Adelaide leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Cartagena 54: Adelaide leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Cartagena 48: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Cartagena 40: Adelaide leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Cartagena 40: Adelaide leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Adelaide
Best match
56match

Wins on families and day trips with your weighting.

Cartagena
53match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideCartagena
Official languageEnglishSpanish
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number000123
Elevation1 m2 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideCartagena
City population1,387,290914,552
People per km²1,0711,599
Museums within 10 km132
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.