VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Surfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach, Gold Coast
Gold CoastSurfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Gold Coast?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Gold Coast for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Gold Coast’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, Gold Coast 92: Gold Coast leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Gold Coast 47: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Gold Coast 15: Cartagena leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Gold Coast 55: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Gold Coast 82: Gold Coast leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Gold Coast 52: Gold Coast leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Gold Coast 89: Gold Coast leads by 49 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Gold Coast 45: Cartagena leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Gold Coast 40: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Gold Coast 35: Cartagena leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Gold Coast 30: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Gold Coast 42: Gold Coast leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Gold Coast.

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 prices with your weighting.

Gold Coast
52match

Wins on families 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

Gold Coast in July

22 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaGold Coast

Where the figures come from

Gold Coast's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Brisbane Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Gold Coast: 1991-2020 normals, Gold Coast Seaway (13 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaGold Coast
Official languageSpanishEnglish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+10
Emergency number123000
Elevation2 m12 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsGold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaGold Coast
City population914,552607,665
People per km²1,599433
Museums within 10 km22
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Gold Coast 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.