VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The skyline reflected in the water, The Hague
The HagueThe skyline reflected in the water

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; The Hague by Bráulio jardim, Pexels License.

Cartagena or The Hague?

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
  • prices

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

Choose The Hague for

  • day trips
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on The Hague’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, The Hague 38: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, The Hague 48: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, The Hague 66: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, The Hague 38: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, The Hague 52: The Hague leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, The Hague 86: The Hague leads by 53 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, The Hague 72: The Hague leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, The Hague 78: The Hague leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, The Hague 55: The Hague leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, The Hague 35: Cartagena leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, The Hague 58: The Hague leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, The Hague 45: The Hague leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and The Hague.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

The Hague
Best match
56match

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

The Hague in July

21 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaThe Hague

Where the figures come from

The Hague has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

The Hague's sunshine is measured 60 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). The Hague: 1991-2020 normals, Valkenburg (13.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaThe Hague
Official languageSpanishDutch
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m1 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)16 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaThe Hague
City population914,552548,320
People per km²1,5995,589
Museums within 10 km254
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
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 The Hague 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.