VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Madrid?

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
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Madrid for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Madrid’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, Madrid 5: Cartagena leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Madrid 60: Madrid leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 56 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Madrid 50: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Madrid 36: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Madrid.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips 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

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaMadrid
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m663 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaMadrid
City population914,5523,506,730
People per km²1,5995,801
Museums within 10 km288
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
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 Madrid 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.