VacationSelector
Château Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace, Quebec City
Quebec CityChâteau Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Quebec City by Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Quebec City 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 Quebec City for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Quebec City’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. Quebec City 18, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Quebec City 57, Santa Marta 44: Quebec City leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Quebec City 70, Santa Marta 34: Quebec City leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Quebec City 42, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Quebec City 79, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Quebec City 58, Santa Marta 38: Quebec City leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Quebec City 64, Santa Marta 40: Quebec City leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Quebec City 50, Santa Marta 38: Quebec City leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Quebec City 45, Santa Marta 27: Quebec City leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Quebec City 45, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Quebec City 52, Santa Marta 17: Quebec City leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Quebec City 55, Santa Marta 30: Quebec City leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Quebec City
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts 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.

Quebec City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
119 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Quebec CitySanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Quebec City: 1991-2020 normals, Beauport (3.2 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureQuebec CitySanta Marta
Official languageFrench, EnglishSpanish
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation98 m8 m
Main airportQuebec Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB)13 km from centre34 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureQuebec CitySanta Marta
City population574,482505,915
People per km²1,1841,723
Museums within 10 km163
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Quebec City 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.