VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • 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. Cairo 10, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Cartagena 62: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Cartagena 68: Cairo leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Cartagena 46: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Cartagena 33: Cairo leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Cartagena 54: Cartagena leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Cartagena 48: Cairo leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Cartagena 60: Cairo leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Cartagena 40: Cairo leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Cairo
50match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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
CairoCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoCartagena
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180123
Elevation23 m2 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureCairoCartagena
City population9,801,536914,552
People per km²18,5641,599
Museums within 10 km482
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Cairo 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). 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.