VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Sofia?

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
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Sofia for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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, Sofia 5: Cartagena leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Sofia 45: Cartagena leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Sofia 60: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Sofia 50: Cartagena leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Sofia 80: Sofia leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Sofia 60: Sofia leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Cartagena and Sofia are level on 40.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Sofia 65: Sofia leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Sofia 38: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Sofia 78: Sofia leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Sofia 50: Sofia leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Sofia 45: Sofia leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Sofia.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Sofia
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaSofia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaSofia
Official languageSpanishBulgarian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m560 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaSofia
City population914,5521,213,134
People per km²1,5992,466
Museums within 10 km242
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 Sofia 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.