VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Ushuaia below snow-capped mountains, Ushuaia
UshuaiaUshuaia below snow-capped mountains

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Ushuaia by Jan Tang, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Ushuaia?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Ushuaia for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Ushuaia’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, Ushuaia 3: Cartagena leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Ushuaia 40: Cartagena leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Ushuaia 22: Cartagena leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Ushuaia 18: Cartagena leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Ushuaia 88: Ushuaia leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Ushuaia 14: Cartagena leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Cartagena and Ushuaia are level on 40.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Ushuaia 45: Cartagena leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Ushuaia 22: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Ushuaia 42: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Ushuaia 10: Cartagena leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Ushuaia 26: Cartagena leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Ushuaia.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Ushuaia
31match

Wins on 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

Ushuaia in July

4 °Cdaytime high
0 °Cnight-time low
36 mmrain in the month
2 hsunshine a day
No seasea
8 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaUshuaia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Ushuaia: 1991-2020 normals, Ushuaia Aerodrome (1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaUshuaia
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number123117 or 911
Elevation2 m23 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsUshuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH)4 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaUshuaia
City population914,55282,615
People per km²1,5993,592
Museums within 10 km25
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Ushuaia 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.