VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Fort San Pedro in Cebu City, Cebu
CebuFort San Pedro in Cebu City

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

Cartagena or Cebu?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Cebu for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Cebu’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, Cebu 60: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Cebu 58: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Cebu 40: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Cebu 46: Cartagena leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Cebu 60: Cebu leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Cebu 44: Cebu leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Cebu 45: Cebu leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Cebu 26: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Cebu 44: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Cebu 80: Cebu leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Cebu 25: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Cebu 50: Cebu leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Cebu.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Cebu
48match

Wins on prices 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

Cebu in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaCebu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Cebu: 1991-2020 normals, Mactan (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaCebu
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m135 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsMactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)9 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaCebu
City population914,552965,332
People per km²1,5993,065
Museums within 10 km25
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Cebu 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.