VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Scottsdale?

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
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Cartagena leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Scottsdale 46: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Scottsdale 38: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Scottsdale 52: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Scottsdale 68: Scottsdale leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Scottsdale 50: Scottsdale leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Scottsdale 20: Cartagena leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Scottsdale 32: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena and Scottsdale are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 32 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness 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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaScottsdale
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-7
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m380 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaScottsdale
City population914,552241,361
People per km²1,599-
Museums within 10 km210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Scottsdale 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.