VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
A lifeguard stand on South Beach, Miami
MiamiA lifeguard stand on South Beach

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Miami by Radomianin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Miami?

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

  • prices
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Miami for

  • families
  • shopping
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Miami’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, Miami 90: Miami leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Miami 72: Miami leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Miami 57: Cartagena leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Miami 82: Miami leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Miami 64: Miami leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Miami 42: Miami leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Miami 64: Miami leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Miami 35: Cartagena leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Miami 71: Miami leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Miami 27: Cartagena leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Miami 55: Miami leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Miami 44: Miami leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Miami.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Miami
Best match
59match

Wins on families and shopping 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

Miami in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
186 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaMiami

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Miami: 1991-2020 normals, Miami International Airport (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaMiami
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m2 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsMiami International Airport (MIA)7 km from centre198 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaMiami
City population914,552442,241
People per km²1,5993,046
Museums within 10 km217
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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