VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Tirana?

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

  • culture and sights
  • beaches
  • shopping

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

Choose Tirana for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Cartagena leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Tirana 57: Cartagena leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Tirana 42: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Tirana 58: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Tirana 62: Tirana leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Tirana 64: Tirana leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Cartagena and Tirana are level on 40.
Getting around. Cartagena and Tirana are level on 54.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Tirana 32: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Tirana 76: Tirana leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Tirana 32: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Tirana 27: Cartagena leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Tirana.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights and beaches with your weighting.

Tirana
49match

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

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaTirana

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaTirana
Official languageSpanishAlbanian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Lek (ALL)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m110 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaTirana
City population914,552389,323
People per km²1,5999,314
Museums within 10 km211
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 Tirana 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.