VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Santa Marta or Sydney?

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

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

Choose Sydney for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Sydney 50: Sydney leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 41 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Sydney 22: Santa Marta leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Sydney 55: Sydney leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

Sydney
Best match
66match

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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaSydney

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). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaSydney
Official languageSpanishEnglish
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency number123000
Elevation8 m6 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaSydney
City population505,9155,450,496
People per km²1,723449
Museums within 10 km338
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Sydney 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.