VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cartagena or Vancouver?

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

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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, Vancouver 42: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Vancouver 42: Cartagena leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Vancouver 42: Cartagena leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 51 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Vancouver 45: Vancouver leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Vancouver 73: Vancouver leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Vancouver 55: Vancouver leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Vancouver 27: Cartagena leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Vancouver 52: Vancouver leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Vancouver 50: Vancouver leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Vancouver.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Vancouver
Best match
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaVancouver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaVancouver
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m2 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaVancouver
City population914,552662,248
People per km²1,5995,759
Museums within 10 km226
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 Vancouver 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. 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.