VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Marrakech?

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 Marrakech for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Marrakech’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, Marrakech 7: Cartagena leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Marrakech 64: Marrakech leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Marrakech 76: Marrakech leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Marrakech 33: Cartagena leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Marrakech 70: Marrakech leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Marrakech 28: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Marrakech 25: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Marrakech 38: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Marrakech 72: Marrakech leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Marrakech 72: Marrakech leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Marrakech 25: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Marrakech 75: Marrakech leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Marrakech.

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.

Marrakech
49match

Wins on wellness 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

Marrakech in July

38 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaMarrakech

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaMarrakech
Official languageSpanishArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1
Emergency number123Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation2 m465 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaMarrakech
City population914,5521,002,697
People per km²1,5994,360
Museums within 10 km214
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 Marrakech 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.