VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Thessaloniki?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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, Thessaloniki 55: Cartagena leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Thessaloniki 74: Thessaloniki leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Thessaloniki 60: Thessaloniki leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Thessaloniki 52: Thessaloniki leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Thessaloniki 33: Cartagena leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors 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

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaThessaloniki
Official languageSpanishGreek
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 m6 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaThessaloniki
City population914,552309,617
People per km²1,59916,042
Museums within 10 km232
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Thessaloniki 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.