VacationSelector
The old town below the fortress, Salzburg
SalzburgThe old town below the fortress
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Salzburg by Leonhard Niederwimmer, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Salzburg 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 Salzburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Salzburg’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. Salzburg 35, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Salzburg 45, Santa Marta 44: Salzburg leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Salzburg 72, Santa Marta 34: Salzburg leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Salzburg 25, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salzburg 86, Santa Marta 84: Salzburg leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Salzburg 80, Santa Marta 38: Salzburg leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Salzburg 65, Santa Marta 40: Salzburg leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Salzburg 72, Santa Marta 38: Salzburg leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Salzburg 48, Santa Marta 27: Salzburg leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Salzburg 32, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salzburg 80, Santa Marta 17: Salzburg leads by 63 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salzburg 55, Santa Marta 30: Salzburg leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salzburg and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Salzburg
Best match
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips 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.

Salzburg in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine 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

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SalzburgSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salzburg: 1991-2020 normals, Salzburg (3.4 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalzburgSanta Marta
Official languageGerman, Austrian Sign LanguageSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation424 m8 m
Main airportSalzburg Airport (SZG)3 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalzburgSanta Marta
City population155,021505,915
People per km²2,3601,723
Museums within 10 km383
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
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 Salzburg 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.