VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline, Macau
MacauThe Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Macau by tian Jin, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Macau?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Macau for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Macau’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, Macau 24: Cartagena leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Macau 77: Macau leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Macau 62: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Macau 40: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Macau 5: Cartagena leads by 41 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Macau 52: Macau leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Macau 48: Macau leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Macau 60: Macau leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Macau 58: Macau leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Macau 44: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Macau 36: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena and Macau are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Macau.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Macau
46match

Wins on day trips 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

Macau in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
281 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaMacau

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Macau: 1991-2020 normals, Taipa (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaMacau
Official languageSpanishPortuguese, Cantonese, Standard Chinese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Pataca (MOP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzFGM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number123999
Elevation2 m22 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsMacau International Airport (MFM)7 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaMacau
City population914,552682,100
People per km²1,5995,916
Museums within 10 km228
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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