VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Cathedral of Sant'Agata, Catania
CataniaThe Cathedral of Sant'Agata

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Catania by Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Catania?

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 Cartagena for

  • nightlife
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Catania for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Catania’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. Cartagena 70, Catania 72: Catania leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Catania 77: Catania leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Catania 62: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Catania 60: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Catania 83: Catania leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Catania 84: Catania leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Catania 50: Catania leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Catania 48: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Catania 42: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Cartagena and Catania are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Catania 55: Catania leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Catania 30: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Catania.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on nightlife and wellness with your weighting.

Catania
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips 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.

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

Catania in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaCatania

Where the figures come from

Catania's sunshine is measured 88 km from the centre, at Messina.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Catania: 1991-2020 normals, Catania / Fontanarossa (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaCatania
Official languageSpanishItalian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m7 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsCatania-Fontanarossa Airport (CTA)4 km from centre96 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaCatania
City population914,552311,584
People per km²1,5991,704
Museums within 10 km225
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Catania 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.