VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Penang?

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
  • beaches
  • getting around

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

Choose Penang for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Penang’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, Penang 44: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Penang 86: Penang leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Penang 70: Penang leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Penang 40: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Penang 55: Penang leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Penang 42: Penang leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Penang 52: Penang leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Penang 40: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Penang 42: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Penang 78: Penang leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Penang 30: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Penang 42: Penang leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Penang.

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 nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on food and drink and prices 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

Penang in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaPenang
Official languageSpanishMalay
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number123999
Elevation2 m4 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaPenang
City population914,552794,313
People per km²1,599-
Museums within 10 km29
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Penang 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.