VacationSelector
The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
BerlinThe Brandenburg Gate
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Berlin by Claudia Solano, Pexels License; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Berlin 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 Berlin for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • beaches
  • prices

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. Berlin 38, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Berlin 66, Cartagena 62: Berlin leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Berlin 86, Cartagena 68: Berlin leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Berlin 98, Cartagena 70: Berlin leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Berlin 50, Cartagena 46: Berlin leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Berlin 66, Cartagena 33: Berlin leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Berlin 76, Cartagena 40: Berlin leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Berlin 82, Cartagena 54: Berlin leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Berlin 68, Cartagena 48: Berlin leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Berlin 48, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Berlin 90, Cartagena 40: Berlin leads by 50 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Berlin 55, Cartagena 40: Berlin leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Berlin and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Berlin
Best match
69match

Wins on live music and the arts and families with your weighting.

Cartagena
53match

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.

Berlin in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
76 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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
BerlinCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Berlin: 1991-2020 normals, Berlin / Alexanderplatz (0.9 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBerlinCartagena
Official languageGermanSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation34 m2 m
Main airportBerlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)19 km from centre161 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureBerlinCartagena
City population3,700,577914,552
People per km²4,1531,599
Museums within 10 km1572
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
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 Berlin 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). 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. 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.