VacationSelector
The Teatro Amazonas, Manaus
ManausThe Teatro Amazonas
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Manaus by Jardelsliumba, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Manaus 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 Manaus for

  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • 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. Manaus 38, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Manaus 56, Santa Marta 44: Manaus leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Manaus 46, Santa Marta 34: Manaus leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Manaus 42, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manaus 86, Santa Marta 84: Manaus leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Manaus 12, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Manaus 35, Santa Marta 40: Santa Marta leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Manaus 27, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Manaus 36, Santa Marta 27: Manaus leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Manaus 63, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manaus 54, Santa Marta 17: Manaus leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manaus 20, Santa Marta 30: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manaus and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Manaus
43match

Wins on live music and the arts and food and drink with your weighting.

Santa Marta
Best match
46match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Manaus in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
74 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 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
ManausSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Manaus: 1991-2020 normals, Manaus (1.7 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureManausSanta Marta
Official languagePortugueseSpanish
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCN60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193123
Elevation92 m8 m
Main airportEduardo Gomes International Airport (MAO)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureManausSanta Marta
City population2,303,732505,915
People per km²2021,723
Museums within 10 km133
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Manaus 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.