VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

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

Biarritz 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 Biarritz for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • 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. Biarritz 68, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz and Cartagena are level on 62.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Cartagena 68: Cartagena leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Cartagena 46: Biarritz leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Cartagena 33: Biarritz leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Cartagena 40: Biarritz leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Cartagena 54: Biarritz leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz 42, Cartagena 48: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Cartagena 40: Biarritz leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Biarritz
54match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Cartagena
53match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °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
BiarritzCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzCartagena
Official languageFrenchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation0 m2 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzCartagena
City population26,206914,552
People per km²2,2401,599
Museums within 10 km82
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Biarritz 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.