VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Istanbul?

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

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

Choose Istanbul for

  • shopping
  • wellness
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Istanbul’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, Istanbul 45: Cartagena leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Istanbul 87: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Istanbul 90: Istanbul leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Istanbul 77: Istanbul leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Istanbul 52: Istanbul leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Istanbul 55: Istanbul leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Istanbul 55: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Istanbul 86: Istanbul leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Cartagena and Istanbul are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Istanbul 75: Istanbul leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Istanbul.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches with your weighting.

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on shopping 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

Istanbul in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaIstanbul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaIstanbul
Official languageSpanishTurkish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+3
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m100 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaIstanbul
City population914,55215,655,924
People per km²1,5992,930
Museums within 10 km273
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Istanbul 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. 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.