VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Shanghai?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • shopping
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Shanghai’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, Shanghai 10: Santa Marta leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Shanghai 25: Santa Marta leads by 59 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 52 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 55 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Shanghai 55: Santa Marta leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 49 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on shopping 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

Shanghai in July

33 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
151 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaShanghai

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). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaShanghai
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number123Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation8 m4 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaShanghai
City population505,91524,870,895
People per km²1,7233,922
Museums within 10 km345
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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