VacationSelector
The Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
HanoiThe Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Hanoi by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Hanoi 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 Hanoi for

  • food and drink
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Hanoi 6, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Hanoi 85, Santa Marta 44: Hanoi leads by 41 points.
Culture & sights. Hanoi 72, Santa Marta 34: Hanoi leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Hanoi and Santa Marta are level on 50.
Nature & outdoors. Hanoi 52, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Hanoi 58, Santa Marta 38: Hanoi leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Hanoi 35, Santa Marta 40: Santa Marta leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Hanoi 36, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Hanoi 50, Santa Marta 27: Hanoi leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Hanoi 98, Santa Marta 80: Hanoi leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hanoi 40, Santa Marta 17: Hanoi leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hanoi 46, Santa Marta 30: Hanoi leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hanoi and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Hanoi
Best match
52match

Wins on food and drink and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on beaches 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.

Hanoi in July

34 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
311 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 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
HanoiSanta Marta

Where the figures come from

Hanoi's sunshine is measured 86 km from the centre, at Phu Lien.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hanoi: 1991-2020 normals, Ha Noi (4.4 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHanoiSanta Marta
Official languageVietnameseSpanish
CurrencyDong (VND)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsACFG220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 113, ambulance 115, fire 114123
Elevation10 m8 m
Main airportNoi Bai International Airport (HAN)22 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureHanoiSanta Marta
City population8,717,600505,915
People per km²2,5951,723
Museums within 10 km143
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hanoi 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.