VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Montego Bay?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Montego Bay’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, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Montego Bay 50: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Montego Bay 28: Cartagena leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Montego Bay 42: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Montego Bay 50: Montego Bay leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Montego Bay 48: Montego Bay leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Montego Bay 20: Cartagena leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Montego Bay 25: Cartagena leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Montego Bay 38: Cartagena leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Montego Bay 32: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Montego Bay 45: Montego Bay leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

Montego Bay in July

34 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaMontego Bay
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5
Emergency number123Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation2 m19 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaMontego Bay
City population914,552123,994
People per km²1,599-
Museums within 10 km20
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 Montego Bay 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.