VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Hamburg or Medellin?

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 Hamburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Medellin for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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. Hamburg 28, Medellin 5: Hamburg leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Medellin 42: Hamburg leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg and Medellin are level on 76.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Medellin 66: Medellin leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Medellin 58: Hamburg leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Medellin 50: Hamburg leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Medellin 55: Hamburg leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Medellin 45: Hamburg leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Medellin 42: Hamburg leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Medellin 30: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and Medellin.

Your match

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

Hamburg
Best match
60match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

Medellin
51match

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.

Hamburg in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgMedellin

Where the figures come from

Medellin has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgMedellin
Official languageGermanSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation6 m1,405 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgMedellin
City population1,869,4732,529,403
People per km²2,4766,644
Museums within 10 km7714
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hamburg or Medellin 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.