VacationSelector
Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom, Orlando
OrlandoCinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Orlando by Michael Gray, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Orlando 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 Orlando for

  • families
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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. Orlando 42, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Orlando 48, Santa Marta 44: Orlando leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Orlando 22, Santa Marta 34: Santa Marta leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Orlando 40, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Orlando 46, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Orlando 58, Santa Marta 38: Orlando leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Orlando 98, Santa Marta 40: Orlando leads by 58 points.
Getting around. Orlando 8, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Orlando 58, Santa Marta 27: Orlando leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Orlando 36, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Orlando 40, Santa Marta 17: Orlando leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Orlando 32, Santa Marta 30: Orlando leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Orlando and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Orlando
44match

Wins on families 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.

Orlando in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
OrlandoSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Orlando: 1991-2020 normals, Orlando Airport (14.2 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOrlandoSanta 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
Elevation34 m8 m
Main airportOrlando International Airport (MCO)14 km from centre169 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureOrlandoSanta Marta
City population334,854505,915
People per km²1,0861,723
Museums within 10 km113
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 Orlando 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). 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. 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.

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.