VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Nairobi?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Nairobi’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, Nairobi 4: Cartagena leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Nairobi 48: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Nairobi 35: Cartagena leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Nairobi 58: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Nairobi 28: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Nairobi 55: Nairobi leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Nairobi 20: Cartagena leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Nairobi 45: Cartagena leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Cartagena and Nairobi are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Nairobi 35: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Nairobi 25: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Nairobi.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families 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

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaNairobi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaNairobi
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+3
Emergency number123Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation2 m1,661 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaNairobi
City population914,5525,545,000
People per km²1,5997,967
Museums within 10 km24
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Nairobi 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.