VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Seoul?

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

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

Choose Seoul for

  • day trips
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Cartagena leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Seoul 50: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Seoul 63: Seoul leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 35 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

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

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaSeoul

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

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaSeoul
Official languageSpanishKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Won (KRW)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+9
Emergency number123Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation2 m38 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaSeoul
City population914,5529,668,465
People per km²1,59915,973
Museums within 10 km281
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Seoul 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.