VacationSelector
The Centro Civico and its clock tower, Bariloche
BarilocheThe Centro Civico and its clock tower
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Bariloche by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bariloche 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 Bariloche for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

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. Bariloche 27, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Bariloche and Santa Marta are level on 44.
Culture & sights. Bariloche 27, Santa Marta 34: Santa Marta leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Bariloche 33, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bariloche 94, Santa Marta 84: Bariloche leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Bariloche and Santa Marta are level on 38.
Good for families. Bariloche 55, Santa Marta 40: Bariloche leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bariloche 44, Santa Marta 38: Bariloche leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Bariloche 33, Santa Marta 27: Bariloche leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Bariloche 46, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bariloche 27, Santa Marta 17: Bariloche leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bariloche 40, Santa Marta 30: Bariloche leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bariloche and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Bariloche
42match

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

Santa Marta
Best match
46match

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.

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

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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BarilocheSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bariloche: 1991-2020 normals, Bariloche Aerodrome (11.2 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarilocheSanta Marta
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 m8 m
Main airportTeniente Luis Candelaria International Airport (BRC)12 km from centre17 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarilocheSanta Marta
City population136,381505,915
People per km²6191,723
Museums within 10 km33
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 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. 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.