VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Sapporo?

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 Sapporo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Sapporo’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, Sapporo 28: Cartagena leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Sapporo 40: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Sapporo 62: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cartagena and Sapporo are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Sapporo 44: Sapporo leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Sapporo in July

25 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaSapporo
Official languageSpanishJapanese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+9
Emergency number123Police 110, fire 119
Elevation2 m5 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaSapporo
City population914,5521,959,313
People per km²1,5991,747
Museums within 10 km233
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Sapporo 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.