VacationSelector
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Medellin or Seattle?

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 Medellin for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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. Medellin 5, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Medellin 58, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Medellin 42, Seattle 50: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Medellin 76, Seattle 55: Medellin leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Medellin 66, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Medellin 58, Seattle 55: Medellin leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Medellin 50, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Medellin 55, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Medellin 45, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Medellin 80, Seattle 22: Medellin leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Medellin 42, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Medellin 30, Seattle 40: Seattle leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Medellin and Seattle.

Your match

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

Medellin
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Medellin in July

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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MedellinSeattle

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. Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMedellinSeattle
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation1,405 m40 m
Main airportJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMedellinSeattle
City population2,529,403737,015
People per km²6,6441,996
Museums within 10 km1427
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Medellin or Seattle 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.