VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Boston 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 Boston for

  • day trips
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • 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. Boston 35, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Cartagena 62: Boston leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Cartagena 68: Boston leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Cartagena 46: Boston leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Cartagena 33: Boston leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Cartagena 40: Boston leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Cartagena 54: Boston leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Cartagena 48: Boston leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Cartagena 40: Boston leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Boston
Best match
56match

Wins on day trips and families with your weighting.

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °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
BostonCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonCartagena
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation43 m2 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonCartagena
City population675,647914,552
People per km²2,9101,599
Museums within 10 km512
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Boston 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.