VacationSelector
The Calgary Tower above Olympic Plaza, Calgary
CalgaryThe Calgary Tower above Olympic Plaza
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Calgary by abdallahh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Calgary 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 Calgary for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Calgary 8, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Calgary 45, Cartagena 62: Cartagena leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Calgary 35, Cartagena 68: Cartagena leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Calgary 40, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Calgary 88, Cartagena 46: Calgary leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Calgary 55, Cartagena 33: Calgary leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Calgary 68, Cartagena 40: Calgary leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Calgary 42, Cartagena 54: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Calgary 42, Cartagena 48: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Calgary 42, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Calgary 46, Cartagena 40: Calgary leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Calgary 42, Cartagena 40: Calgary leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Calgary and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Calgary
46match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Calgary in July

25 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CalgaryCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Calgary: 1991-2020 normals, Calgary Int'l CS (8.2 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCalgaryCartagena
Official languageFrench, EnglishSpanish
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation1,045 m2 m
Main airportCalgary International Airport (YYC)9 km from centre103 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureCalgaryCartagena
City population1,306,784914,552
People per km²1,5831,599
Museums within 10 km132
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Calgary 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). 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. 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.

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.