VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Mexico City?

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

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

Choose Mexico City for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’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, Mexico City 5: Cartagena leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Mexico City 90: Mexico City leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Mexico City 88: Mexico City leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Mexico City 80: Mexico City leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Mexico City 50: Mexico City leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Mexico City 58: Mexico City leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Mexico City 50: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Mexico City 76: Mexico City leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Mexico City 72: Mexico City leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena and Mexico City are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Mexico City.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Mexico City
Best match
63match

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

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaMexico City

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaMexico City
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-6
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m2,240 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaMexico City
City population914,5529,209,944
People per km²1,5996,202
Museums within 10 km2108
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16
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 Mexico City 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.