VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Charleston?

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

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Charleston for

  • day trips
  • families
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Charleston’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, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Charleston 64: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Charleston 44: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Charleston 55: Charleston leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Charleston 62: Charleston leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Charleston 60: Charleston leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Charleston 46: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Charleston 55: Charleston leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Charleston 27: Cartagena leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Charleston 42: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena and Charleston are level on 40.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Charleston.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Charleston
53match

Wins on day trips and families 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

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaCharleston

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaCharleston
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m6 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaCharleston
City population914,552150,227
People per km²1,599532
Museums within 10 km219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Charleston 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.