VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Wilmington?

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 Wilmington for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Wilmington 48: Wilmington leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Wilmington 40: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Wilmington 58: Santa Marta leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Wilmington 45: Wilmington leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Wilmington 28: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Wilmington 33: Wilmington leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Wilmington 42: Santa Marta leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Wilmington 33: Wilmington leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Wilmington.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaWilmington

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). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaWilmington
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation8 m9 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaWilmington
City population505,915115,451
People per km²1,723839
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Wilmington 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.