VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Osaka?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Osaka for

  • day trips
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Osaka’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, Osaka 34: Cartagena leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Osaka 63: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Osaka 58: Osaka leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 64 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 48 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Cartagena and Osaka are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Osaka.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on day trips 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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaOsaka

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaOsaka
Official languageSpanishJapanese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+9
Emergency number123Police 110, fire 119
Elevation2 m20 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaOsaka
City population914,5522,751,862
People per km²1,59912,340
Museums within 10 km244
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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