VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta
JakartaThe Istiqlal Mosque

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Jakarta by Antonyus Bunjamin, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Jakarta?

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
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Jakarta for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Jakarta’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, Jakarta 28: Cartagena leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Jakarta 78: Jakarta leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Jakarta 48: Cartagena leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Jakarta 66: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Jakarta 30: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Jakarta 45: Jakarta leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Jakarta 50: Jakarta leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Jakarta 36: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Jakarta 64: Jakarta leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Jakarta 80: Jakarta leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Jakarta 42: Jakarta leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Jakarta 46: Jakarta leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Jakarta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Jakarta
51match

Wins on prices and food and drink 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

Jakarta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaJakarta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Jakarta: 1991-2020 normals, Jakarta / Observatory (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaJakarta
Official languageSpanishIndonesian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Rupiah (IDR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m91 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsSoekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK)20 km from centre89 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaJakarta
City population914,55211,135,191
People per km²1,59916,821
Museums within 10 km244
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 Jakarta 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.