VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Tromso?

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
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Cartagena leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Tromso 36: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Tromso 27: Cartagena leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Tromso 38: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Tromso 14: Cartagena leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Tromso 45: Tromso leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Tromso 60: Tromso leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Tromso 15: Cartagena leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Tromso 11: Cartagena leads by 49 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Tromso 32: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Tromso 38: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Tromso.

Your match

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

Cartagena
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaTromso
Official languageSpanishNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation2 m20 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaTromso
City population914,55279,943
People per km²1,59932
Museums within 10 km28
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Tromso 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. 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.