VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Faro?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Faro for

  • day trips
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Faro’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, Faro 74: Faro leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Faro 48: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Faro 35: Cartagena leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Faro 32: Cartagena leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Faro 62: Faro leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Faro 64: Faro leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Faro 60: Faro leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Faro 60: Faro leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Faro 35: Cartagena leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Cartagena and Faro are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Faro 30: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Faro 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 Faro.

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.

Faro
49match

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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaFaro

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaFaro
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m10 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaFaro
City population914,55264,560
People per km²1,599319
Museums within 10 km22
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Faro 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.