VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Oaxaca?

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
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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, Oaxaca 5: Cartagena leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Oaxaca 74: Oaxaca leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Oaxaca 40: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Oaxaca 65: Oaxaca leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Cartagena and Oaxaca are level on 40.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Oaxaca 55: Oaxaca leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Oaxaca 38: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Oaxaca 50: Oaxaca leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Oaxaca.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Oaxaca
54match

Wins on day trips and food and drink 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

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaOaxaca

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaOaxaca
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-6
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m1,555 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaOaxaca
City population914,552258,913
People per km²1,5993,028
Museums within 10 km210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Oaxaca 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.