VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Latin Bridge over the Miljacka, Sarajevo
SarajevoThe Latin Bridge over the Miljacka

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sarajevo by Tumi-1983, CC0.

Santa Marta or Sarajevo?

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
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Sarajevo for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarajevo’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, Sarajevo 6: Santa Marta leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Sarajevo 60: Sarajevo leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Sarajevo 64: Sarajevo leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Sarajevo 44: Santa Marta leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Sarajevo 78: Santa Marta leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Sarajevo 62: Sarajevo leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Sarajevo 38: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Sarajevo 60: Sarajevo leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Sarajevo 40: Sarajevo leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta and Sarajevo are level on 80.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Sarajevo 40: Sarajevo leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Sarajevo 42: Sarajevo leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Sarajevo
Best match
51match

Wins on culture and sights 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

Sarajevo in July

28 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSarajevo

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). Sarajevo: 1991-2020 normals, Sarajevo-Bejelave (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSarajevo
Official languageSpanishCroatian, Serbian, Bosnian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Convertible Mark (BAM)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation8 m518 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsSarajevo International Airport (SJJ)7 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSarajevo
City population505,915275,524
People per km²1,7231,947
Museums within 10 km325
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Sarajevo 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.