VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Praia Mole in Florianopolis, Florianopolis
FlorianopolisPraia Mole in Florianopolis

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Florianopolis by Papa Pic, CC0.

Cartagena or Florianopolis?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Florianopolis for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Florianopolis’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, Florianopolis 85: Florianopolis leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Florianopolis 58: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Florianopolis 33: Cartagena leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Florianopolis 60: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Florianopolis 78: Florianopolis leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Florianopolis 50: Florianopolis leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Florianopolis 60: Florianopolis leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Florianopolis 28: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Florianopolis 33: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Cartagena and Florianopolis are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Florianopolis 28: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Florianopolis 45: Florianopolis leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Florianopolis.

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 getting around with your weighting.

Florianopolis
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Florianopolis in July

21 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaFlorianopolis

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Florianopolis: 1991-2020 normals, Florianopolis (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaFlorianopolis
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number123Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation2 m3 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsHercílio Luz International Airport (FLN)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaFlorianopolis
City population914,552587,486
People per km²1,599870
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Florianopolis 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.