VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Cartagena or Washington DC?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • day trips
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Cartagena leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Washington DC 57: Cartagena leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Washington DC 28: Cartagena leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena 40, Washington DC 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 Washington DC.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaWashington DC
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation2 m72 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaWashington DC
City population914,552689,545
People per km²1,5993,896
Museums within 10 km298
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

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