VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Colombo?

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
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Colombo for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Colombo’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, Colombo 55: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Colombo 66: Colombo leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Colombo 45: Cartagena leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Colombo 35: Cartagena leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Colombo 32: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Colombo 50: Colombo leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Colombo 35: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Colombo 35: Cartagena leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Colombo 45: Cartagena leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Colombo 78: Colombo leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Colombo 30: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Colombo 48: Colombo leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Colombo.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Colombo
46match

Wins on prices and day trips 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

Colombo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
128 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaColombo
Official languageSpanishTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+5:30
Emergency number123Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation2 m1 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaColombo
City population914,552647,557
People per km²1,59917,361
Museums within 10 km210
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 Colombo 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. 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.