VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The skyline reflected in the water, The Hague
The HagueThe skyline reflected in the water

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; The Hague by Bráulio jardim, Pexels License.

Santa Marta or The Hague?

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
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose The Hague for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on The Hague’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, The Hague 38: Santa Marta leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, The Hague 48: The Hague leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, The Hague 66: The Hague leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, The Hague 38: Santa Marta leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, The Hague 52: Santa Marta leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, The Hague 86: The Hague leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, The Hague 72: The Hague leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, The Hague 78: The Hague leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, The Hague 55: The Hague leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, The Hague 35: Santa Marta leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, The Hague 58: The Hague leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, The Hague 45: The Hague leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

The Hague
Best match
56match

Wins on day trips 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

The Hague in July

21 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaThe Hague

Where the figures come from

The Hague has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

The Hague's sunshine is measured 60 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

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). The Hague: 1991-2020 normals, Valkenburg (13.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaThe Hague
Official languageSpanishDutch
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 m1 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)16 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaThe Hague
City population505,915548,320
People per km²1,7235,589
Museums within 10 km354
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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