VacationSelector
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Montevideo 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 Montevideo for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • beaches

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. Montevideo 55, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Montevideo 57, Santa Marta 44: Montevideo leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Montevideo 54, Santa Marta 34: Montevideo leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Montevideo and Santa Marta are level on 50.
Nature & outdoors. Montevideo 34, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 50 points.
Day trips. Montevideo 55, Santa Marta 38: Montevideo leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Montevideo 55, Santa Marta 40: Montevideo leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Montevideo 54, Santa Marta 38: Montevideo leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Montevideo 36, Santa Marta 27: Montevideo leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Montevideo 42, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montevideo 57, Santa Marta 17: Montevideo leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montevideo 38, Santa Marta 30: Montevideo leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Montevideo
Best match
49match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
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
MontevideoSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontevideoSanta Marta
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyPeso Uruguayo (UYU)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCFIL230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation41 m8 m
Main airportCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontevideoSanta Marta
City population1,302,954505,915
People per km²1,7851,723
Museums within 10 km363
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Montevideo 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.