VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The old town below the fortress, Salzburg
SalzburgThe old town below the fortress

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Salzburg by Leonhard Niederwimmer, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Salzburg?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Salzburg for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Salzburg’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, Salzburg 35: Cartagena leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Salzburg 45: Cartagena leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Salzburg 72: Salzburg leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Salzburg 25: Cartagena leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Salzburg 86: Salzburg leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Salzburg 80: Salzburg leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Salzburg 65: Salzburg leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Salzburg 72: Salzburg leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena and Salzburg are level on 48.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Salzburg 32: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Salzburg 80: Salzburg leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Salzburg 55: Salzburg leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Salzburg.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Salzburg
Best match
58match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors 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

Salzburg in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaSalzburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Salzburg: 1991-2020 normals, Salzburg (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaSalzburg
Official languageSpanishGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m424 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsSalzburg Airport (SZG)3 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaSalzburg
City population914,552155,021
People per km²1,5992,360
Museums within 10 km238
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Salzburg 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.