VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Cartagena or Sydney?

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

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sydney for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Sydney 60: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Sydney 60: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Sydney 50: Sydney leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Sydney 22: Cartagena leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Sydney 55: Sydney leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Sydney.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Sydney
Best match
66match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaSydney
Official languageSpanishEnglish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency number123000
Elevation2 m6 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaSydney
City population914,5525,450,496
People per km²1,599449
Museums within 10 km238
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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