VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Tirana?

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

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Tirana for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Santa Marta leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Tirana 57: Tirana leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Tirana 42: Tirana leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Tirana 58: Tirana leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Tirana 62: Santa Marta leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Tirana 64: Tirana leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta and Tirana are level on 40.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Tirana 54: Tirana leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Tirana 32: Tirana leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Tirana 76: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Tirana 32: Tirana leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Tirana 27: Santa Marta leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Tirana.

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

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

Tirana
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaTirana

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). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaTirana
Official languageSpanishAlbanian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Lek (ALL)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation8 m110 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaTirana
City population505,915389,323
People per km²1,7239,314
Museums within 10 km311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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