VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Barcelona 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 Barcelona for

  • day trips
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • prices
  • wellness

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. Barcelona 75, Cartagena 70: Barcelona leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Cartagena 62: Barcelona leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Cartagena 68: Barcelona leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Cartagena 70: Barcelona leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Cartagena 46: Barcelona leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Cartagena 33: Barcelona leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Cartagena 40: Barcelona leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Cartagena 54: Barcelona leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Cartagena 48: Barcelona leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Cartagena 40: Barcelona leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on day trips and families with your weighting.

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Barcelona in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °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
BarcelonaCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaCartagena
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
Elevation9 m2 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaCartagena
City population1,731,649914,552
People per km²17,0941,599
Museums within 10 km952
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
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 Barcelona 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.