VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cartagena or San Sebastian?

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

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Sebastian’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, San Sebastian 68: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, San Sebastian 52: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, San Sebastian 44: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, San Sebastian 40: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, San Sebastian 32: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, San Sebastian 45: San Sebastian leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips and food and drink 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

San Sebastian in July

22 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
92 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

San Sebastian's station stands 252 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaSan Sebastian
Official languageSpanishSpanish
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 m6 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaSan Sebastian
City population914,552189,866
People per km²1,5993,118
Museums within 10 km214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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