VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Valletta?

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
  • shopping
  • prices

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

Choose Valletta for

  • day trips
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Cartagena leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Valletta 55: Cartagena leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Valletta 46: Cartagena leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Valletta 56: Valletta leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Valletta 38: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Valletta 50: Cartagena leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Valletta 32: Cartagena leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Valletta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Cartagena
53match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaValletta
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m56 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaValletta
City population914,5525,197
People per km²1,5996,496
Museums within 10 km216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena or Valletta 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.