VacationSelector
Colourful shopfronts in the city centre, Cork
CorkColourful shopfronts in the city centre
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Cork by Selim Karadayı, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cork 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 Cork for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Cork 25, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Cork 58, Santa Marta 44: Cork leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Cork 40, Santa Marta 34: Cork leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Cork 40, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cork 62, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Cork 68, Santa Marta 38: Cork leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Cork 50, Santa Marta 40: Cork leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Cork 58, Santa Marta 38: Cork leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Cork 40, Santa Marta 27: Cork leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Cork 33, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cork 45, Santa Marta 17: Cork leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cork 22, Santa Marta 30: Santa Marta leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cork and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cork
45match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices 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.

Cork in July

19 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CorkSanta Marta

Where the figures come from

Cork's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cork: 1991-2020 normals, Cork Airport (5.6 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCorkSanta Marta
Official languageEnglish, IrishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation0 m8 m
Main airportCork International Airport (ORK)7 km from centre47 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureCorkSanta Marta
City population222,333505,915
People per km²5,9611,723
Museums within 10 km53
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cork 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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.