VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

New York 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 New York for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. New York 50, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, Santa Marta 44: New York leads by 48 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, Santa Marta 34: New York leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, Santa Marta 50: New York leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York 55, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 29 points.
Day trips. New York 68, Santa Marta 38: New York leads by 30 points.
Good for families. New York 70, Santa Marta 40: New York leads by 30 points.
Getting around. New York 82, Santa Marta 38: New York leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, Santa Marta 27: New York leads by 70 points.
Affordability. New York 12, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, Santa Marta 17: New York leads by 82 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 42, Santa Marta 30: New York leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
15 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
New YorkSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkSanta Marta
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation25 m8 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkSanta Marta
City population8,804,190505,915
People per km²7,2561,723
Museums within 10 km1573
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New York 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.