VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Athens 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 Athens for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Athens and Santa Marta are level on 70.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Santa Marta 44: Athens leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Santa Marta 34: Athens leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Santa Marta 50: Athens leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Santa Marta 38: Athens leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Santa Marta 40: Athens leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Santa Marta 38: Athens leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Santa Marta 27: Athens leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Santa Marta 17: Athens leads by 47 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Santa Marta 30: Athens leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips 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.

Athens in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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
AthensSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensSanta Marta
Official languageGreekSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation74 m8 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensSanta Marta
City population643,452505,915
People per km²16,4991,723
Museums within 10 km883
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Athens 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.