VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Phnom Penh?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Phnom Penh’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, Phnom Penh 6: Cartagena leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena and Phnom Penh are level on 62.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Phnom Penh 62: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Phnom Penh 58: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Phnom Penh 28: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Phnom Penh 34: Phnom Penh leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Phnom Penh 32: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Phnom Penh 35: Cartagena leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Phnom Penh 46: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Phnom Penh 32: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Phnom Penh.

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.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices and wellness 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

Phnom Penh in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
168 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaPhnom Penh
Official languageSpanishKhmer
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number123Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation2 m11 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaPhnom Penh
City population914,5522,129,371
People per km²1,5993,138
Museums within 10 km23
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 Phnom Penh 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.