VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Hurghada?

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
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Hurghada for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Hurghada’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, Hurghada 84: Hurghada leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Hurghada 34: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Hurghada 14: Cartagena leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Hurghada 40: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Hurghada 72: Hurghada leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Hurghada 30: Cartagena leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Hurghada 62: Hurghada leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Hurghada 22: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Hurghada 24: Cartagena leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Hurghada 80: Hurghada leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Hurghada 10: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Hurghada 44: Hurghada leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Hurghada.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Hurghada
43match

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

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaHurghada

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaHurghada
Official languageSpanishArabic
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number123Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation2 m11 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaHurghada
City population914,552214,247
People per km²1,599-
Museums within 10 km21
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 Hurghada 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.