VacationSelector
Vine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley, Mendoza
MendozaVine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Mendoza by David, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Mendoza 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 Mendoza for

  • wellness
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

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. Mendoza 6, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Mendoza 68, Santa Marta 44: Mendoza leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Mendoza 30, Santa Marta 34: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Mendoza 40, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mendoza 83, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Mendoza 52, Santa Marta 38: Mendoza leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Mendoza 42, Santa Marta 40: Mendoza leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Mendoza 48, Santa Marta 38: Mendoza leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Mendoza 33, Santa Marta 27: Mendoza leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Mendoza 56, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mendoza 33, Santa Marta 17: Mendoza leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mendoza 55, Santa Marta 30: Mendoza leads by 25 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mendoza and Santa Marta.

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

Mendoza
46match

Wins on wellness and food and drink with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Mendoza in July

15 °Cdaytime high
2 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MendozaSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Mendoza: 1991-2020 normals, Mendoza Aerodrome (8.5 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMendozaSanta Marta
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-5
Emergency number117 or 911123
Elevation769 m8 m
Main airportGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ)8 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureMendozaSanta Marta
City population127,160505,915
People per km²2,3551,723
Museums within 10 km13
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Mendoza 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). 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. 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.