VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • families
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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. Fort Lauderdale 88, Santa Marta 70: Fort Lauderdale leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Santa Marta 44: Fort Lauderdale leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Santa Marta 34: Santa Marta leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, Santa Marta 50: Fort Lauderdale leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, Santa Marta 38: Fort Lauderdale leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, Santa Marta 40: Fort Lauderdale leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, Santa Marta 27: Fort Lauderdale leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Santa Marta 17: Fort Lauderdale leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, Santa Marta 30: Fort Lauderdale leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Fort Lauderdale
Best match
50match

Wins on families and shopping with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Fort LauderdaleSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleSanta Marta
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation11 m8 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleSanta Marta
City population182,760505,915
People per km²1,8291,723
Museums within 10 km63
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 Fort Lauderdale 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.