VacationSelector
Philae temple on the Nile, Aswan
AswanPhilae temple on the Nile
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Aswan by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Aswan 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 Aswan for

  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • 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. Aswan 10, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Aswan 30, Cartagena 62: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Aswan 64, Cartagena 68: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Aswan 8, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 62 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aswan 45, Cartagena 46: Cartagena leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Aswan 52, Cartagena 33: Aswan leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Aswan 32, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Aswan 40, Cartagena 54: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Aswan 30, Cartagena 48: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Aswan 92, Cartagena 60: Aswan leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aswan 14, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aswan and Cartagena are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aswan and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Aswan
38match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Aswan in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AswanCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Aswan: 1991-2020 normals, Asswan (18 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAswanCartagena
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180123
Elevation99 m2 m
Main airportAswan International Airport (ASW)16 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureAswanCartagena
City population401,890914,552
People per km²1,0721,599
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aswan 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.