VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Zagreb?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Santa Marta leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Zagreb 55: Zagreb leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Zagreb 56: Zagreb leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Zagreb 47: Santa Marta leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Zagreb 62: Santa Marta leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Zagreb 52: Zagreb leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Zagreb 40: Zagreb leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Zagreb 60: Santa Marta leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Zagreb 52: Zagreb leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Zagreb 33: Zagreb leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

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

Zagreb
Best match
50match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaZagreb

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). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaZagreb
Official languageSpanishCroatian
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation8 m127 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaZagreb
City population505,915767,131
People per km²1,723-
Museums within 10 km327
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 Zagreb 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.