VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Philadelphia?

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
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Cartagena leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena and Philadelphia are level on 62.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Philadelphia 55: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Philadelphia 52: Philadelphia leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Philadelphia 40: Cartagena leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Philadelphia 26: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts 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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaPhiladelphia
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m12 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaPhiladelphia
City population914,5521,603,797
People per km²1,5994,339
Museums within 10 km254
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Philadelphia 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.