VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The wide beach and its hotels in morning light, Daytona Beach
Daytona BeachThe wide beach and its hotels in morning light

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Daytona Beach by Han Zheng, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Daytona Beach?

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 Daytona Beach for

  • day trips
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Daytona Beach’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, Daytona Beach 80: Daytona Beach leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Daytona Beach 36: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Daytona Beach 30: Cartagena leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Daytona Beach 40: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Daytona Beach 56: Daytona Beach leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Daytona Beach 66: Daytona Beach leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Daytona Beach 60: Daytona Beach leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Daytona Beach 18: Cartagena leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Daytona Beach 27: Cartagena leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Daytona Beach 46: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Daytona Beach 30: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Daytona Beach 30: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Daytona Beach.

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.

Daytona Beach
43match

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

Daytona Beach in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
153 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
CartagenaDaytona Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Daytona Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Daytona Beach / Mansfield Mobile Home Park (4.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaDaytona Beach
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 m4 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsDaytona Beach International Airport (DAB)5 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaDaytona Beach
City population914,55272,647
People per km²1,599440
Museums within 10 km26
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months9 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Daytona Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.