VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Adelaide or Santa Marta?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Santa Marta 44: Adelaide leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Santa Marta 34: Adelaide leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Santa Marta 38: Adelaide leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Santa Marta 40: Adelaide leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Santa Marta 38: Adelaide leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Santa Marta 27: Adelaide leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Santa Marta 17: Adelaide leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Santa Marta 30: Adelaide leads by 12 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Adelaide
Best match
56match

Wins on live music and the arts and families with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideSanta Marta
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 m8 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideSanta Marta
City population1,387,290505,915
People per km²1,0711,723
Museums within 10 km133
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Santa Marta 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.