VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Japanese Covered Bridge, Hoi An
Hoi AnThe Japanese Covered Bridge

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Hoi An by François Guerraz, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Hoi An?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Hoi An for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Hoi An’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, Hoi An 72: Hoi An leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Hoi An 68: Hoi An leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Hoi An 66: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Hoi An 28: Cartagena leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Hoi An 63: Hoi An leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Hoi An 50: Hoi An leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Hoi An 58: Hoi An leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Hoi An 48: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Hoi An 57: Hoi An leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Hoi An 88: Hoi An leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Hoi An 24: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Hoi An 65: Hoi An leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Hoi An.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Hoi An
Best match
57match

Wins on prices and wellness 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

Hoi An in July

35 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600800JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaHoi An

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Hoi An: 1991-2020 normals, Da Nang (23.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaHoi An
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 m13 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsDa Nang International Airport (DAD)23 km from centre47 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaHoi An
City population914,552121,716
People per km²1,599-
Museums within 10 km25
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Hoi An 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.