Best time to visit Cartagena

Cartagena has no real season. The best month scores 95 and the worst 79, a spread of just 16 points, so the honest answer to "when should I go" is whenever the flights are cheapest. 8 of the twelve months sit within ten points of the best, so there is more than one right answer.

August is the warmest month at 30.8 °C and January the coolest at 16.4 °C — a 14.4 °C spread across the year. Around 47 days a year top 30 °C, concentrated in August and the months either side.

There is a real wet season here. October to November carry the rain — up to 7 wet days in a month — while June to August drop as low as 0. That 7-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Cartagena, and it moves further than the temperature does.

The sea is comfortable for swimming in June to October — 25.7 °C at its warmest against 14.7 °C at its coldest. The water peaks a month or two after the air does, so the best swimming falls later in the year than the best weather. Daylight runs from 9.6 hours in winter to 14.7 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are May, June, April. The one to think twice about is January. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight, sea temperature and crowd levels.

Cartagena month by month