VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The fountain in Piazza De Ferrari, Genoa
GenoaThe fountain in Piazza De Ferrari

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Genoa by Faber1893, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Genoa?

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
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Genoa for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Genoa’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, Genoa 62: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Genoa 72: Genoa leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Genoa 76: Genoa leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Genoa 42: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Genoa 78: Genoa leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Genoa 83: Genoa leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Genoa 64: Genoa leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Genoa 66: Genoa leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena and Genoa are level on 48.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Genoa 55: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Genoa 52: Genoa leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Genoa 35: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Genoa.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Genoa
Best match
61match

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

Genoa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaGenoa

Where the figures come from

Genoa has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Genoa's sunshine is measured 80 km from the centre, at Capo Mele.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Genoa: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaGenoa
Official languageSpanishItalian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m20 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)7 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaGenoa
City population914,552558,745
People per km²1,5992,325
Museums within 10 km251
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Genoa 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.