VacationSelector
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Medellin or Windhoek?

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
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Windhoek for

Windhoek does not lead in any category we score.

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Medellin leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Medellin 58, Windhoek 36: Medellin leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Medellin 42, Windhoek 30: Medellin leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Medellin 76, Windhoek 25: Medellin leads by 51 points.
Nature & outdoors. Medellin 66, Windhoek 52: Medellin leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Medellin 58, Windhoek 14: Medellin leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Medellin 50, Windhoek 30: Medellin leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Medellin 55, Windhoek 22: Medellin leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Medellin 45, Windhoek 30: Medellin leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Medellin 80, Windhoek 62: Medellin leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Medellin 42, Windhoek 18: Medellin leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Medellin and Windhoek are level on 30.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Medellin
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and day trips with your weighting.

Windhoek
29match

Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.

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

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MedellinWindhoek

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). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMedellinWindhoek
Official languageSpanishEnglish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2
Emergency number123112
Elevation1,405 m1,650 m
Main airportJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMedellinWindhoek
City population2,529,403486,169
People per km²6,64495
Museums within 10 km145
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Medellin or Windhoek 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. 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.