VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Fukuoka 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 Fukuoka for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • beaches

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. Fukuoka 50, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Santa Marta 44: Fukuoka leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Santa Marta 34: Fukuoka leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Santa Marta 50: Fukuoka leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Santa Marta 38: Fukuoka leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Santa Marta 40: Fukuoka leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Santa Marta 38: Fukuoka leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Santa Marta 27: Fukuoka leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Santa Marta 17: Fukuoka leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Santa Marta 30: Fukuoka leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaSanta Marta
Official languageJapaneseSpanish
CurrencyYen (JPY)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119123
Elevation8 m8 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaSanta Marta
City population1,603,043505,915
People per km²4,7151,723
Museums within 10 km233
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fukuoka 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.