VacationSelector
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero
Rice terraces and palms at Tegallalang, Ubud
UbudRice terraces and palms at Tegallalang

Photos: Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Ubud by Pinterpandai, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Medellin or Ubud?

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
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Ubud for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Ubud’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, Ubud 38: Ubud leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Medellin 58, Ubud 60: Ubud leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Medellin 42, Ubud 58: Ubud leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Medellin 76, Ubud 15: Medellin leads by 61 points.
Nature & outdoors. Medellin 66, Ubud 80: Ubud leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Medellin 58, Ubud 72: Ubud leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Medellin 50, Ubud 48: Medellin leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Medellin 55, Ubud 10: Medellin leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Medellin 45, Ubud 52: Ubud leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Medellin and Ubud are level on 80.
Live music & performing arts. Medellin 42, Ubud 47: Ubud leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Medellin 30, Ubud 96: Ubud leads by 66 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Medellin
51match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

Ubud
Best match
55match

Wins on wellness 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 recordsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Ubud in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
110 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MedellinUbud

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.

Ubud's temperatures are measured 29 km from the centre, at Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai.

Ubud's station stands 209 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Ubud 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). Ubud: 1991-2020 normals, Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai (29 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMedellinUbud
Official languageSpanishIndonesian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Rupiah (IDR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number123112
Elevation1,405 m210 m
Main airportJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsDenpasar I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)29 km from centre63 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMedellinUbud
City population2,529,403-
People per km²6,644-
Museums within 10 km1414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Medellin or Ubud 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.