VacationSelector
The Old Port and Le Suquet, Cannes
CannesThe Old Port and Le Suquet
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Cannes by qwesy qwesy, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cannes 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 Cannes for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • prices
  • 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. Cannes 80, Cartagena 70: Cannes leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Cannes 55, Cartagena 62: Cartagena leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Cannes 38, Cartagena 68: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Cannes 42, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cannes 72, Cartagena 46: Cannes leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Cannes 86, Cartagena 33: Cannes leads by 53 points.
Good for families. Cannes 56, Cartagena 40: Cannes leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Cannes 68, Cartagena 54: Cannes leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Cannes 60, Cartagena 48: Cannes leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Cannes 22, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cannes 38, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cannes 42, Cartagena 40: Cannes leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cannes and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Cannes
55match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices 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.

Cannes in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °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
CannesCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cannes: 2004-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Cannes (5.8 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCannesCartagena
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
Elevation0 m2 m
Main airportNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)20 km from centre130 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureCannesCartagena
City population74,350914,552
People per km²3,7931,599
Museums within 10 km162
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cannes 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). 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. 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.