Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.
Santa Marta or Whistler?
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
- culture and sights
What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’s own page.
Choose Whistler for
- getting around
- wellness
- families
What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Whistler.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.
Wins on getting around and wellness 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
Whistler in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Whistler has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
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). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Santa Marta | Whistler |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish | French, English |
| Currency | Colombian Peso (COP) | Canadian Dollar (CAD) |
| Sockets | AB110 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer |
| Emergency number | 123 | 911 |
| Elevation | 8 m | 670 m |
| Main airport | Simón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations | Vancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 19 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Santa Marta | Whistler |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 505,915 | 13,982 |
| People per km² | 1,723 | 58 |
| Museums within 10 km | 3 | 1 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | - |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santa Marta or Whistler somewhere new.