VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Muscat?

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
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Muscat for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Muscat’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, Muscat 72: Muscat leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Muscat 44: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Muscat 55: Cartagena leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Muscat 14: Cartagena leads by 56 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Muscat 70: Muscat leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Muscat 62: Muscat leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Muscat 52: Muscat leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Muscat 20: Cartagena leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Muscat 42: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Muscat 45: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena and Muscat are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Muscat 55: Muscat leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Muscat.

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 getting around with your weighting.

Muscat
48match

Wins on day trips 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

Muscat in July

33 °Cdaytime high
30 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
31 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaMuscat

Where the figures come from

Muscat's sunshine is measured 32 km from the centre, at Seeb, International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaMuscat
Official languageSpanishArabic
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Rial Omani (OMR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+4
Emergency number123968
Elevation2 m69 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaMuscat
City population914,5521,421,409
People per km²1,599406
Museums within 10 km210
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 Muscat 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.