VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Istanbul 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 Istanbul for

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

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. Istanbul 45, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Santa Marta 44: Istanbul leads by 43 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Santa Marta 34: Istanbul leads by 56 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Santa Marta 50: Istanbul leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Santa Marta 38: Istanbul leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Santa Marta 40: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Santa Marta 38: Istanbul leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Santa Marta 27: Istanbul leads by 59 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Santa Marta 17: Istanbul leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Santa Marta 30: Istanbul leads by 45 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Istanbul in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
23 °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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulSanta Marta
Official languageTurkishSpanish
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation100 m8 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulSanta Marta
City population15,655,924505,915
People per km²2,9301,723
Museums within 10 km733
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Istanbul 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.