VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The railway viaduct over the canal, Castlefield, Manchester
ManchesterThe railway viaduct over the canal, Castlefield

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Manchester by IIya Kuzhekin, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Manchester?

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
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Manchester for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Manchester’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, Manchester 9: Cartagena leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Manchester 51: Cartagena leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Manchester 50: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Manchester 72: Manchester leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Manchester 64: Manchester leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Manchester 77: Manchester leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Manchester 58: Manchester leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Manchester 68: Manchester leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Manchester 62: Manchester leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Manchester 42: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Manchester 74: Manchester leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Manchester 15: Cartagena leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Manchester.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Manchester
54match

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

Manchester in July

21 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
60 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaManchester

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Manchester: 1991-2020 normals, Manchester Airport (14.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaManchester
Official languageSpanishEnglish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number123112 or 999
Elevation2 m38 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsManchester Airport (MAN)15 km from centre211 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaManchester
City population914,552547,627
People per km²1,5994,737
Museums within 10 km228
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Manchester 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.