VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Lima?

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
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Lima for

  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Lima’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, Lima 42: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Lima 88: Lima leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Lima 66: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Lima 62: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Lima 45: Cartagena leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Lima 34: Lima leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Lima 42: Lima leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Lima 35: Cartagena leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Lima 52: Lima leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Lima 70: Lima leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Lima 53: Lima leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Lima 25: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Lima.

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 getting around with your weighting.

Lima
51match

Wins on food and drink and live music and the arts 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

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaLima
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Sol (PEN)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5
Emergency number123111 or 911
Elevation2 m154 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaLima
City population914,5529,943,800
People per km²1,5993,721
Museums within 10 km247
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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