VacationSelector
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero
The cathedral facade, Siena
SienaThe cathedral facade

Photos: Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Siena by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Medellin or Siena?

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

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • families

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

Choose Siena for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Siena’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, Siena 14: Siena leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Medellin 58, Siena 62: Siena leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Medellin 42, Siena 78: Siena leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Medellin 76, Siena 27: Medellin leads by 49 points.
Nature & outdoors. Medellin 66, Siena 65: Medellin leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Medellin 58, Siena 94: Siena leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Medellin 50, Siena 38: Medellin leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Medellin 55, Siena 60: Siena leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Medellin 45, Siena 35: Medellin leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Medellin 80, Siena 42: Medellin leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Medellin 42, Siena 36: Medellin leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Medellin 30, Siena 55: Siena leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Medellin and Siena.

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

Medellin
51match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Siena
51match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
12 hdaylight a day

Siena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MedellinSiena

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.

Siena's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Arezzo.

Siena 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). Siena: 2006-2017 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Arezzo (45 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMedellinSiena
Official languageSpanishItalian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation1,405 m322 m
Main airportJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)55 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMedellinSiena
City population2,529,40352,812
People per km²6,644446
Museums within 10 km1430
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Medellin or Siena 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.