VacationSelector
The Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta
JakartaThe Istiqlal Mosque
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Jakarta by Antonyus Bunjamin, Pexels License; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Jakarta 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 Jakarta for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Medellin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

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. Jakarta 28, Medellin 5: Jakarta leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Jakarta 78, Medellin 58: Jakarta leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Jakarta 48, Medellin 42: Jakarta leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Jakarta 66, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jakarta 30, Medellin 66: Medellin leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Jakarta 45, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Jakarta and Medellin are level on 50.
Getting around. Jakarta 36, Medellin 55: Medellin leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Jakarta 64, Medellin 45: Jakarta leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Jakarta and Medellin are level on 80.
Live music & performing arts. Jakarta and Medellin are level on 42.
Wellness & relaxation. Jakarta 46, Medellin 30: Jakarta leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jakarta and Medellin.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Jakarta
51match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Medellin
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Jakarta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Medellin in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
JakartaMedellin

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. Jakarta: 1991-2020 normals, Jakarta / Observatory (1.1 km from centre). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJakartaMedellin
Official languageIndonesianSpanish
CurrencyRupiah (IDR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation91 m1,405 m
Main airportSoekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK)20 km from centre89 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureJakartaMedellin
City population11,135,1912,529,403
People per km²16,8216,644
Museums within 10 km4414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jakarta 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.