VacationSelector
The Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline, Macau
MacauThe Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Macau by tian Jin, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Macau 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 Macau for

  • food and drink
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Macau’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. Macau 24, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Macau 77, Santa Marta 44: Macau leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Macau 62, Santa Marta 34: Macau leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Macau 40, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Macau 5, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 79 points.
Day trips. Macau 52, Santa Marta 38: Macau leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Macau 48, Santa Marta 40: Macau leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Macau 60, Santa Marta 38: Macau leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Macau 58, Santa Marta 27: Macau leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Macau 44, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Macau 36, Santa Marta 17: Macau leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Macau 40, Santa Marta 30: Macau leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Macau and Santa Marta.

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

Macau
46match

Wins on food and drink and shopping 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.

Macau in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
281 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MacauSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Macau: 1991-2020 normals, Taipa (3.9 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMacauSanta Marta
Official languagePortuguese, Cantonese, Standard ChineseSpanish
CurrencyPataca (MOP)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsFGM220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5
Emergency number999123
Elevation22 m8 m
Main airportMacau International Airport (MFM)7 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureMacauSanta Marta
City population682,100505,915
People per km²5,9161,723
Museums within 10 km283
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Macau 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). 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. 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.