VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Tampa?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Tampa for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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 and Tampa are level on 70.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Tampa 57: Tampa leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Tampa 42: Tampa leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Tampa 52: Tampa leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Tampa 55: Santa Marta leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Tampa 22: Santa Marta leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Tampa 40: Santa Marta leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Tampa 47: Tampa leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta and Tampa are level on 30.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Tampa.

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.

Tampa
Best match
49match

Wins on families and live music and the arts 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaTampa

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). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaTampa
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation8 m30 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaTampa
City population505,915384,959
People per km²1,723848
Museums within 10 km36
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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