VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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. Cairo 10, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Santa Marta 44: Cairo leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Santa Marta 34: Cairo leads by 62 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 54 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Santa Marta 38: Cairo leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Santa Marta 40: Santa Marta leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Santa Marta 27: Cairo leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Santa Marta 80: Cairo leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Santa Marta 17: Cairo leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Santa Marta 30: Santa Marta leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Cairo
Best match
50match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

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
CairoSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoSanta Marta
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 m8 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureCairoSanta Marta
City population9,801,536505,915
People per km²18,5641,723
Museums within 10 km483
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 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). 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.