VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria
VictoriaThe British Columbia Parliament Buildings

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Victoria by Guilice, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Victoria?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Victoria for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria’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, Victoria 28: Santa Marta leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Victoria 50: Victoria leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Victoria 42: Victoria leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Victoria 30: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Victoria 77: Santa Marta leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Victoria 54: Victoria leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Victoria 62: Victoria leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Victoria 60: Victoria leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Victoria 40: Victoria leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Victoria 34: Santa Marta leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Victoria 40: Victoria leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Victoria 48: Victoria leads by 18 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Victoria
47match

Wins on live music and the arts and families 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

Victoria in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaVictoria

Where the figures come from

Victoria's sunshine is measured 87 km from the centre, at Vancouver International Airport.

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). Victoria: 1991-2020 normals, Victoria Gonzales CS (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaVictoria
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation8 m23 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsVictoria International Airport (YYJ)25 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaVictoria
City population505,91591,867
People per km²1,7234,711
Museums within 10 km36
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 Victoria 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.