VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Sao Paulo?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: Santa Marta leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Sao Paulo 60: Sao Paulo leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Sao Paulo 48: Santa Marta leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Sao Paulo 47: Sao Paulo leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Sao Paulo 52: Sao Paulo leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Sao Paulo 44: Sao Paulo leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Sao Paulo 62: Santa Marta leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 59 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Sao Paulo 25: Santa Marta leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSao Paulo

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). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSao Paulo
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number123Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation8 m760 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSao Paulo
City population505,91511,451,999
People per km²1,7237,519
Museums within 10 km390
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 Sao Paulo 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.