VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
A heritage tram before the Regent building, Christchurch
ChristchurchA heritage tram before the Regent building

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Christchurch by Bernard Spragg. NZ, CC0.

Cartagena or Christchurch?

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
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Christchurch for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Christchurch’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, Christchurch 38: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Christchurch 45: Cartagena leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Christchurch 38: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Christchurch 32: Cartagena leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Christchurch 84: Christchurch leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Christchurch 45: Christchurch leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Christchurch 66: Christchurch leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Christchurch 48: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Christchurch 32: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Christchurch 38: Cartagena leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Christchurch 38: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Christchurch 45: Christchurch leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Christchurch.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Christchurch
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Christchurch in July

11 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
9 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaChristchurch

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Christchurch: 1991-2020 normals, Christchurch (8.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaChristchurch
Official languageSpanishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number123111
Elevation2 m20 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsChristchurch International Airport (CHC)10 km from centre28 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaChristchurch
City population914,552383,200
People per km²1,5991,298
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Christchurch 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.