VacationSelector
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Salt Lake 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 Salt Lake City for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake 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. Salt Lake City 12, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Salt Lake City 40, Santa Marta 44: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Salt Lake City 42, Santa Marta 34: Salt Lake City leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Salt Lake City 30, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salt Lake City 90, Santa Marta 84: Salt Lake City leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Salt Lake City 34, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Salt Lake City 72, Santa Marta 40: Salt Lake City leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Salt Lake City 42, Santa Marta 38: Salt Lake City leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Salt Lake City 36, Santa Marta 27: Salt Lake City leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Salt Lake City 40, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salt Lake City 55, Santa Marta 17: Salt Lake City leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salt Lake City 38, Santa Marta 30: Salt Lake City leads by 8 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salt Lake City 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

Salt Lake City
44match

Wins on live music and the arts and families 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.

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
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
Salt Lake CitySanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalt Lake CitySanta Marta
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation1,288 m8 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalt Lake CitySanta Marta
City population199,723505,915
People per km²6901,723
Museums within 10 km123
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 Salt Lake 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.