VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Izmir?

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
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Izmir for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Izmir’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, Izmir 62: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Izmir 72: Izmir leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Izmir 55: Cartagena leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Izmir 60: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Izmir 66: Izmir leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Izmir 86: Izmir leads by 53 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Izmir 55: Izmir leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Izmir 63: Izmir leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Izmir 55: Izmir leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Izmir 66: Izmir leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Izmir 48: Izmir leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Izmir 57: Izmir leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Izmir.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife with your weighting.

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors 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

Izmir in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaIzmir

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaIzmir
Official languageSpanishTurkish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+3
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m2 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaIzmir
City population914,5524,493,242
People per km²1,5994,760
Museums within 10 km229
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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