VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante 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 Alicante for

  • day trips
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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. Alicante 82, Cartagena 70: Alicante leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Cartagena 62: Alicante leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Cartagena 68: Cartagena leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Cartagena 46: Alicante leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Cartagena 33: Alicante leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Cartagena 40: Alicante leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Cartagena 54: Alicante leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Cartagena 48: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Alicante and Cartagena are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante and Cartagena are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and families with your weighting.

Cartagena
53match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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
AlicanteCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteCartagena
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation3 m2 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteCartagena
City population366,221914,552
People per km²1,8191,599
Museums within 10 km82
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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.