VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Montevideo?

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

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Montevideo for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Montevideo’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, Montevideo 55: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Montevideo 57: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Montevideo 54: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Montevideo 50: Cartagena leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Montevideo 34: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Cartagena and Montevideo are level on 54.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Montevideo 36: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Montevideo 42: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Montevideo 57: Montevideo leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Montevideo 38: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Montevideo.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Montevideo
49match

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

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaMontevideo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaMontevideo
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m41 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaMontevideo
City population914,5521,302,954
People per km²1,5991,785
Museums within 10 km236
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

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