VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Honolulu?

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

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Honolulu for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Honolulu’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, Honolulu 91: Honolulu leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Honolulu 70: Honolulu leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Honolulu 55: Cartagena leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Honolulu 45: Cartagena leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Honolulu 88: Honolulu leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Honolulu 38: Honolulu leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Honolulu 80: Honolulu leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Honolulu 52: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Honolulu 60: Honolulu leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Honolulu 15: Cartagena leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena and Honolulu are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Honolulu 50: Honolulu leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Honolulu.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Honolulu
Best match
57match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families 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

Honolulu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaHonolulu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaHonolulu
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-10
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m12 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaHonolulu
City population914,552350,964
People per km²1,5991,981
Museums within 10 km212
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Honolulu 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.