VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Santa Marta or Valletta?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Valletta for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Valletta 55: Valletta leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Valletta 46: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Valletta 56: Santa Marta leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Valletta 38: Valletta leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Valletta 50: Santa Marta leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Valletta 32: Valletta leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

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

Valletta
Best match
55match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips 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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaValletta

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). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaValletta
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation8 m56 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaValletta
City population505,9155,197
People per km²1,7236,496
Museums within 10 km316
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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