VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Santiago?

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
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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, Santiago 12: Cartagena leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Santiago 60: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Santiago 52: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Santiago 60: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Santiago 57: Santiago leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Santiago 58: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Santiago 55: Santiago leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Santiago 37: Cartagena leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Santiago.

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 beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santiago
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaSantiago

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

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaSantiago
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number123Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation2 m575 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaSantiago
City population914,5526,257,516
People per km²1,5997,468
Museums within 10 km254
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Santiago 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.