VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Oslo 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 Oslo for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • 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. Oslo 36, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, Santa Marta 44: Oslo leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, Santa Marta 34: Oslo leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Oslo 52, Santa Marta 38: Oslo leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Oslo 63, Santa Marta 40: Oslo leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Oslo 85, Santa Marta 38: Oslo leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. Oslo 50, Santa Marta 27: Oslo leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Oslo 14, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, Santa Marta 17: Oslo leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 60, Santa Marta 30: Oslo leads by 30 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Oslo
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 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
OsloSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloSanta Marta
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiSpanish
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110123
Elevation23 m8 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsloSanta Marta
City population717,710505,915
People per km²-1,723
Museums within 10 km603
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Oslo 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.