VacationSelector
The Old Town Clock on Citadel Hill, Halifax
HalifaxThe Old Town Clock on Citadel Hill
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Halifax by Danieljmacdonald, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Halifax 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 Halifax for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Halifax’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. Halifax 32, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Halifax 50, Santa Marta 44: Halifax leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Halifax 42, Santa Marta 34: Halifax leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Halifax 46, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Halifax 62, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Halifax 63, Santa Marta 38: Halifax leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Halifax 55, Santa Marta 40: Halifax leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Halifax 48, Santa Marta 38: Halifax leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Halifax 35, Santa Marta 27: Halifax leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Halifax 38, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Halifax 46, Santa Marta 17: Halifax leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Halifax 28, Santa Marta 30: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Halifax 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

Halifax
45match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips 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.

Halifax in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 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
HalifaxSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Halifax: 1991-2020 normals, Shearwater Airport (6 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHalifaxSanta Marta
Official languageFrench, EnglishSpanish
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation28 m8 m
Main airportHalifax / Stanfield International Airport (YHZ)26 km from centre40 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureHalifaxSanta Marta
City population440,072505,915
People per km²801,723
Museums within 10 km153
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 Halifax 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.