VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms, Tangier
TangierThe Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Tangier by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Tangier?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Tangier for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tangier’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, Tangier 50: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Tangier 58: Tangier leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Tangier 57: Tangier leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Tangier 30: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Tangier 55: Santa Marta leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Tangier 72: Tangier leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Tangier 35: Santa Marta leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Tangier 40: Tangier leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Tangier 42: Tangier leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Tangier 76: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Tangier 28: Tangier leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

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

Tangier
Best match
49match

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

Tangier in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaTangier

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). Tangier: 1991-2020 normals, Tanger Aerodrome (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaTangier
Official languageSpanishArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1
Emergency number123Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation8 m56 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsTangier Ibn Battuta Airport (TNG)11 km from centre50 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaTangier
City population505,9151,275,428
People per km²1,7236,393
Museums within 10 km36
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

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