VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Sapporo?

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

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Sapporo’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, Sapporo 28: Santa Marta leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Sapporo 40: Sapporo leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Sapporo 60: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Sapporo 44: Sapporo leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 50 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Sapporo.

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.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on wellness and getting around 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

Sapporo in July

25 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSapporo

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). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSapporo
Official languageSpanishJapanese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+9
Emergency number123Police 110, fire 119
Elevation8 m5 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSapporo
City population505,9151,959,313
People per km²1,7231,747
Museums within 10 km333
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months1 month

Where else could you go?

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