VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Cusco?

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

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Cusco for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Cusco’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, Cusco 3: Cartagena leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Cusco 56: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Cusco 81: Cusco leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Cusco 42: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Cusco 86: Cusco leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Cusco 78: Cusco leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Cusco 10: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Cusco 48: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Cusco 52: Cusco leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Cusco 73: Cusco leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Cusco 30: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Cusco 33: Cartagena leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Cusco.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Cusco
49match

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

Cusco in July

20 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaCusco

Where the figures come from

Cusco's station stands 151 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaCusco
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Sol (PEN)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5
Emergency number123111 or 911
Elevation2 m3,399 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaCusco
City population914,552428,450
People per km²1,599-
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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