VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Santa Marta or Seattle?

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
  • beaches

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

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Santa Marta leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Seattle 50: Seattle leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Seattle 22: Santa Marta leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Seattle 40: Seattle 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 Seattle.

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Seattle
Best match
54match

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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSeattle

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). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSeattle
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation8 m40 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSeattle
City population505,915737,015
People per km²1,7231,996
Museums within 10 km327
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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