VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Colombo or Santa Marta?

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 Colombo for

  • food and drink
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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. Colombo 55, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Santa Marta 44: Colombo leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Santa Marta 34: Colombo leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 52 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Santa Marta 38: Colombo leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Santa Marta 40: Santa Marta leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Santa Marta 27: Colombo leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Santa Marta 17: Colombo leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Santa Marta 30: Colombo leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Colombo
46match

Wins on food and drink and shopping with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Colombo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
128 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboSanta Marta
Official languageTamil, SinhalaSpanish
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110123
Elevation1 m8 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboSanta Marta
City population647,557505,915
People per km²17,3611,723
Museums within 10 km103
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo or Santa Marta 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.