VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Sarasota?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Sarasota for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarasota’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, Sarasota 86: Sarasota leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta and Sarasota are level on 44.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Sarasota 45: Sarasota leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Sarasota 28: Santa Marta leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Sarasota 55: Santa Marta leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Sarasota 50: Sarasota leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Sarasota 68: Sarasota leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Sarasota 28: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Sarasota 40: Sarasota leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Sarasota 30: Santa Marta leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Sarasota 58: Sarasota leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Sarasota 45: Sarasota leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Sarasota.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Santa Marta
46match

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

Sarasota
48match

Wins on live music and the arts and families 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

Sarasota in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
195 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSarasota

Where the figures come from

Sarasota has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Sarasota's sunshine is measured 70 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

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). Sarasota: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sarasota / Ballentine Manor (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSarasota
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation8 m7 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSarasota
City population505,91554,842
People per km²1,723840
Museums within 10 km33
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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