VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
Victoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter, Victoria Falls
Victoria FallsVictoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Victoria Falls by Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Victoria Falls?

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
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Victoria Falls for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria Falls’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 Falls 7: Santa Marta leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Victoria Falls 24: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Victoria Falls 12: Santa Marta leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Victoria Falls 8: Santa Marta leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Victoria Falls 94: Victoria Falls leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Victoria Falls 22: Santa Marta leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Victoria Falls 38: Santa Marta leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Victoria Falls 45: Victoria Falls leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Victoria Falls 18: Santa Marta leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Victoria Falls 32: Santa Marta leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Victoria Falls 10: Santa Marta leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Victoria Falls 34: Victoria Falls leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Victoria Falls.

Your match

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

Santa Marta
Best match
46match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Victoria Falls
29match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Victoria Falls in July

26 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaVictoria Falls

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 Falls: 1991-2020 normals, Livingstone (13.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaVictoria Falls
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Xhosa, Ndau, Venda, Chewa, Khoisan, Kalanga, Shona, Tonga, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Northern Ndebele, Nambya, Zimbabwe Sign Language, Barwe
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Zimbabwe Gold (ZWG)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2
Emergency number123999
Elevation8 m961 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsVictoria Falls International Airport (VFA)18 km from centre12 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaVictoria Falls
City population505,91533,060
People per km²1,723-
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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