VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Tokyo?

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 Tokyo for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Santa Marta leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 54 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Tokyo 84: Tokyo leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Tokyo 68: Santa Marta leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Tokyo 85: Tokyo leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 55 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 72 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Tokyo 48: Santa Marta leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 69 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 48 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Tokyo.

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.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on shopping 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

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaTokyo

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). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaTokyo
Official languageSpanishJapanese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+9
Emergency number123Police 110, fire 119
Elevation8 m6 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaTokyo
City population505,91514,264,798
People per km²1,7236,501
Museums within 10 km3192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

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