VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
Savannah City Hall and its golden dome, Savannah
SavannahSavannah City Hall and its golden dome

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Savannah by Chris M Morris, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Savannah?

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
  • beaches

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

Choose Savannah for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Savannah’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, Savannah 55: Santa Marta leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Savannah 58: Savannah leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Savannah 68: Savannah leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Savannah 52: Savannah leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Savannah 48: Santa Marta leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Savannah 60: Savannah leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Savannah 50: Savannah leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Savannah 58: Savannah leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Savannah 42: Savannah leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Savannah 35: Santa Marta leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Savannah 40: Savannah leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Savannah 40: Savannah leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Savannah.

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

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

Savannah
Best match
51match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts 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

Savannah in July

34 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
144 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSavannah

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). Savannah: 1991-2020 normals, Savannah Airport (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSavannah
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 m15 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsSavannah Hilton Head International Airport (SAV)12 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSavannah
City population505,915147,780
People per km²1,723524
Museums within 10 km319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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