VacationSelector
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Santa Marta or Zurich?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Santa Marta leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Santa Marta 44, Zurich 53: Zurich leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Marta 34, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Santa Marta 50, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Marta 84, Zurich 80: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Santa Marta 38, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Santa Marta 40, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Santa Marta 38, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 57 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Marta 27, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 39 points.
Affordability. Santa Marta 80, Zurich 3: Santa Marta leads by 77 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Marta 17, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Marta 30, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Marta and Zurich.

Your match

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

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MartaZurich

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). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MartaZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation8 m408 m
Main airportSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MartaZurich
City population505,915440,935
People per km²1,7235,016
Museums within 10 km363
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Zurich 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. 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.