VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Honolulu 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 Honolulu for

  • families
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • nightlife

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. Honolulu 91, Santa Marta 70: Honolulu leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Santa Marta 44: Honolulu leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Santa Marta 34: Honolulu leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Santa Marta 84: Honolulu leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Honolulu and Santa Marta are level on 38.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Santa Marta 40: Honolulu leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Santa Marta 38: Honolulu leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Santa Marta 27: Honolulu leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 65 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Santa Marta 17: Honolulu leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Santa Marta 30: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Honolulu
Best match
57match

Wins on families and shopping with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Honolulu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluSanta Marta
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation12 m8 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluSanta Marta
City population350,964505,915
People per km²1,9811,723
Museums within 10 km123
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 Honolulu 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.