VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Santa Monica?

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
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • day trips
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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, Santa Monica 66: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Santa Monica 60: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Santa Monica 35: Cartagena leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Santa Monica 38: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Santa Monica 52: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Santa Monica 14: Cartagena leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Santa Monica 38: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on day trips and families 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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaSanta Monica
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m32 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaSanta Monica
City population914,55293,076
People per km²1,5994,270
Museums within 10 km219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Santa Monica 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.