VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Kathmandu?

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
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Kathmandu for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Kathmandu’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, Kathmandu 4: Cartagena leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Kathmandu 55: Cartagena leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Kathmandu 82: Kathmandu leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Kathmandu 36: Cartagena leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Kathmandu 70: Kathmandu leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Kathmandu 56: Kathmandu leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Kathmandu 20: Cartagena leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Kathmandu 25: Cartagena leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Kathmandu 55: Kathmandu leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Kathmandu 97: Kathmandu leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Kathmandu 28: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Kathmandu 45: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Kathmandu.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on prices 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

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaKathmandu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaKathmandu
Official languageSpanishNepali
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+5:45
Emergency number123Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation2 m1,300 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaKathmandu
City population914,552845,767
People per km²1,59917,121
Museums within 10 km29
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Kathmandu 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.