VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
HanoiThe Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Hanoi by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Hanoi?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Hanoi for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Hanoi’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, Hanoi 6: Cartagena leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Hanoi 85: Hanoi leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Hanoi 72: Hanoi leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Hanoi 50: Cartagena leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Hanoi 52: Hanoi leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Hanoi 58: Hanoi leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Hanoi 35: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Hanoi 36: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Hanoi 50: Hanoi leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Hanoi 98: Hanoi leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena and Hanoi are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Hanoi 46: Hanoi leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Hanoi.

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 beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Hanoi
52match

Wins on prices 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

Hanoi in July

34 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
311 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaHanoi

Where the figures come from

Hanoi's sunshine is measured 86 km from the centre, at Phu Lien.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Hanoi: 1991-2020 normals, Ha Noi (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaHanoi
Official languageSpanishVietnamese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Dong (VND)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzACFG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number123Police 113, ambulance 115, fire 114
Elevation2 m10 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsNoi Bai International Airport (HAN)22 km from centre91 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaHanoi
City population914,5528,717,600
People per km²1,5992,595
Museums within 10 km214
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 Hanoi 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. 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.