VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Tromso?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Tromso for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Santa Marta leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Tromso 36: Santa Marta leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Tromso 27: Santa Marta leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Tromso 38: Santa Marta leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Tromso 14: Santa Marta leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Tromso 45: Tromso leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Tromso 60: Tromso leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Tromso 15: Santa Marta leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Tromso 11: Santa Marta leads by 69 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Tromso 32: Tromso leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Tromso 38: Tromso leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Tromso.

Your match

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

Santa Marta
Best match
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on getting around 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaTromso

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). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaTromso
Official languageSpanishNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation8 m20 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaTromso
City population505,91579,943
People per km²1,72332
Museums within 10 km38
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Tromso 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. 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.