VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam 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 Amsterdam for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

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. Amsterdam 25, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Cartagena 62: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Cartagena 68: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Cartagena 70: Amsterdam leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Cartagena 46: Amsterdam leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Cartagena 33: Amsterdam leads by 54 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Cartagena 40: Amsterdam leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Cartagena 54: Amsterdam leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Cartagena 48: Amsterdam leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Cartagena 40: Amsterdam leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Cartagena 40: Amsterdam leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 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
AmsterdamCartagena

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam 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.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamCartagena
Official languageDutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation-2 m2 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamCartagena
City population921,468914,552
People per km²4,2081,599
Museums within 10 km1012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam 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.