VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Santa Marta or Seoul?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Seoul for

  • shopping
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Santa Marta leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Seoul 75: Santa Marta leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 49 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 58 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Seoul 50: Santa Marta leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Seoul 63: Seoul leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Seoul.

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.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on shopping 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

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSeoul

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

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSeoul
Official languageSpanishKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Won (KRW)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+9
Emergency number123Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation8 m38 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSeoul
City population505,9159,668,465
People per km²1,72315,973
Museums within 10 km381
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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