VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Fort Lauderdale?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Fort Lauderdale for

  • families
  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Fort Lauderdale’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, Fort Lauderdale 88: Fort Lauderdale leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Fort Lauderdale 47: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Fort Lauderdale 28: Cartagena leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Fort Lauderdale 52: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Fort Lauderdale 62: Fort Lauderdale leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Fort Lauderdale 58: Fort Lauderdale leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Fort Lauderdale 66: Fort Lauderdale leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Fort Lauderdale 32: Cartagena leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Fort Lauderdale 32: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Fort Lauderdale 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena and Fort Lauderdale are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Fort Lauderdale.

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 prices with your weighting.

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on families and day trips 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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaFort Lauderdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaFort Lauderdale
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 m11 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaFort Lauderdale
City population914,552182,760
People per km²1,5991,829
Museums within 10 km26
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 Fort Lauderdale 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.