VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Dubai?

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
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Dubai for

  • families
  • shopping
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Dubai’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, Dubai 80: Dubai leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Dubai 76: Dubai leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Dubai 40: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Dubai 62: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Dubai 25: Cartagena leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Dubai 45: Dubai leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Dubai 82: Dubai leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Dubai 42: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Dubai 82: Dubai leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Dubai 32: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena and Dubai are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Dubai 46: Dubai leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Dubai.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cartagena
53match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Dubai
54match

Wins on families and shopping 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

Dubai in July

42 °Cdaytime high
33 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaDubai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaDubai
Official languageSpanishArabic
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)UAE Dirham (AED)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+4
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m0 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaDubai
City population914,5523,944,751
People per km²1,599-
Museums within 10 km214
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 Dubai 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.