VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Comares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra, Granada
GranadaComares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Granada by Jebulon, CC0.

Cartagena or Granada?

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

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Granada for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Granada’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, Granada 38: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena and Granada are level on 62.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Granada 80: Granada leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Granada 58: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Granada 80: Granada leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Granada 76: Granada leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Granada 52: Granada leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Granada 68: Granada leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Granada 40: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Granada 63: Granada leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Granada 58: Granada leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Granada 48: Granada leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Granada.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Granada
Best match
60match

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

Granada in July

35 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaGranada

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Granada: 1991-2020 normals, Granada / Caserío Hospicio (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaGranada
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m693 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsF.G.L. Airport Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX)16 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaGranada
City population914,552233,975
People per km²1,5992,659
Museums within 10 km220
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Granada 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.