VacationSelector
The Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux
BordeauxThe Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Bordeaux by Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bordeaux 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 Bordeaux for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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. Bordeaux 50, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Bordeaux 78, Santa Marta 44: Bordeaux leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Bordeaux 68, Santa Marta 34: Bordeaux leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Bordeaux and Santa Marta are level on 50.
Nature & outdoors. Bordeaux 58, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Bordeaux 78, Santa Marta 38: Bordeaux leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Bordeaux 57, Santa Marta 40: Bordeaux leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Bordeaux 76, Santa Marta 38: Bordeaux leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Bordeaux 56, Santa Marta 27: Bordeaux leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Bordeaux 42, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bordeaux 55, Santa Marta 17: Bordeaux leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bordeaux 40, Santa Marta 30: Bordeaux leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bordeaux and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Bordeaux
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bordeaux in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
47 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BordeauxSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bordeaux: 1991-2020 normals, Bordeaux / Merignac (9.5 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBordeauxSanta Marta
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
Elevation1 m8 m
Main airportBordeaux–Mérignac Airport (BOD)11 km from centre95 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureBordeauxSanta Marta
City population267,991505,915
People per km²5,4251,723
Museums within 10 km183
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
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 Bordeaux 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.