VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
A skier in powder among snow-covered firs at Marmot Basin, Jasper
JasperA skier in powder among snow-covered firs at Marmot Basin

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Jasper by Marmot Basin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Jasper?

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 Jasper for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Jasper’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, Jasper 25: Cartagena leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Jasper 22: Cartagena leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Jasper 10: Cartagena leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Jasper 14: Cartagena leads by 56 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Jasper 95: Jasper leads by 49 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Jasper 8: Cartagena leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Jasper 42: Jasper leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Jasper 18: Cartagena leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Jasper 12: Cartagena leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Jasper 20: Cartagena leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Jasper 7: Cartagena leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Jasper 46: Jasper leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Jasper.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Jasper
27match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Jasper in July

24 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaJasper

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Jasper: 1991-2020 normals, Jasper Warden (7.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaJasper
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m1,060 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsEdmonton International Airport (YEG)304 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaJasper
City population914,5524,738
People per km²1,5995
Museums within 10 km21
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Jasper 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.