VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Jerusalem 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 Jerusalem for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Jerusalem 40, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, Santa Marta 44: Jerusalem leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Santa Marta 34: Jerusalem leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Santa Marta 38: Jerusalem leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Santa Marta 40: Jerusalem leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Santa Marta 38: Jerusalem leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Santa Marta 27: Jerusalem leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Santa Marta 17: Jerusalem leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, Santa Marta 30: Jerusalem leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Jerusalem
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices 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.

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 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
JerusalemSanta Marta

Where the figures come from

Jerusalem 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. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemSanta Marta
Official languageHebrewSpanish
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (ILS)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCHM230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102123
Elevation754 m8 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemSanta Marta
City population1,050,151505,915
People per km²8,3741,723
Museums within 10 km693
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jerusalem 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.