VacationSelector
The Centro Civico and its clock tower, Bariloche
BarilocheThe Centro Civico and its clock tower
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Bariloche by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bariloche 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 Bariloche for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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. Bariloche 27, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Bariloche 44, Cartagena 62: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Bariloche 27, Cartagena 68: Cartagena leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Bariloche 33, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bariloche 94, Cartagena 46: Bariloche leads by 48 points.
Day trips. Bariloche 38, Cartagena 33: Bariloche leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Bariloche 55, Cartagena 40: Bariloche leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bariloche 44, Cartagena 54: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Bariloche 33, Cartagena 48: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Bariloche 46, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bariloche 27, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bariloche and Cartagena are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bariloche and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Bariloche
42match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bariloche in July

8 °Cdaytime high
-1 °Cnight-time low
132 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 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
BarilocheCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bariloche: 1991-2020 normals, Bariloche Aerodrome (11.2 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarilocheCartagena
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-5
Emergency number117 or 911123
Elevation794 m2 m
Main airportTeniente Luis Candelaria International Airport (BRC)12 km from centre17 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarilocheCartagena
City population136,381914,552
People per km²6191,599
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Bariloche 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.