VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Seattle?

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
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Seattle for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Cartagena leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Seattle 50: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Seattle 55: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 41 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Seattle 22: Cartagena leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena and Seattle are level on 40.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaSeattle
City population914,552737,015
People per km²1,5991,996
Museums within 10 km227
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Seattle 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.