VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Valencia?

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

  • nightlife
  • prices

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

Choose Valencia for

  • day trips
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Valencia leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Valencia 74: Valencia leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena and Valencia are level on 68.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Valencia 66: Cartagena leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Valencia 60: Valencia leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Valencia 70: Valencia leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Valencia 75: Valencia leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Valencia 76: Valencia leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Valencia 57: Cartagena leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Valencia 55: Valencia leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Valencia 42: Valencia leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Valencia.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Valencia
Best match
65match

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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaValencia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaValencia
Official languageSpanishSpanish
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 m15 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaValencia
City population914,552840,792
People per km²1,5996,242
Museums within 10 km245
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Valencia 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.