VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Santa Monica?

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 Santa Marta for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • families
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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. Santa Marta 70, Santa Monica 66: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Santa Monica 35: Santa Monica leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Santa Monica 38: Santa Marta leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Santa Monica 72: Santa Marta leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Santa Monica 14: Santa Marta leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

Wins on families and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSanta Monica
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation8 m32 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSanta Monica
City population505,91593,076
People per km²1,7234,270
Museums within 10 km319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santa Marta or Santa Monica 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.