VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Santiago?

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

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Santiago for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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, Santiago 12: Santa Marta leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Santiago 83: Santa Marta leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Santiago 57: Santiago leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Santiago 58: Santa Marta leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Santiago 55: Santiago leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Santiago 37: Santiago leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips 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

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSantiago

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). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSantiago
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number123Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation8 m575 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSantiago
City population505,9156,257,516
People per km²1,7237,468
Museums within 10 km354
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santa Marta or Santiago 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. 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.