VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Split?

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

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

Choose Split for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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, Split 75: Split leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Split 57: Split leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Split 66: Split leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Split 52: Split leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Split 77: Santa Marta leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Split 78: Split leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Split 54: Split leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Split 67: Split leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Split 32: Split leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Split 45: Santa Marta leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Split 37: Split leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Split 40: Split leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Split.

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.

Split
Best match
57match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights 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

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSplit

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). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSplit
Official languageSpanishCroatian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation8 m0 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSplit
City population505,915160,577
People per km²1,723-
Museums within 10 km311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santa Marta or Split 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.