VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Geneva?

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

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Geneva for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Geneva’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, Geneva 45: Cartagena leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Geneva 55: Cartagena leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Geneva 58: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Geneva 38: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Geneva 82: Geneva leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Geneva 80: Geneva leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Geneva 57: Geneva leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Geneva 86: Geneva leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Geneva 68: Geneva leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Geneva 5: Cartagena leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Geneva 60: Geneva leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Geneva 55: Geneva leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Geneva.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Geneva
Best match
57match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors 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

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaGeneva

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaGeneva
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m403 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaGeneva
City population914,552211,152
People per km²1,59913,280
Museums within 10 km234
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Geneva 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.