VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Shanghai?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • day trips
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Shanghai’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, Shanghai 10: Cartagena leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Shanghai 25: Cartagena leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 57 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Shanghai 55: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Shanghai
Best match
66match

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

Shanghai in July

33 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
151 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaShanghai
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number123Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation2 m4 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaShanghai
City population914,55224,870,895
People per km²1,5993,922
Museums within 10 km245
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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