Weather in Cartagena in July

Shoulder season. July sits in between. You will get good days and you will lose some. You should expect rain on 23 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

July ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Cartagena's year. January is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 37 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 23 of the month's 31 days, 4 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Pack for 30.2 °C days and 27.4 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 18 days top 30 °C — hot spells arrive, but they break; the day barely swings — 2.8 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest July day reached 33.6 °C and the coldest night fell to 25.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 92 mm — roughly 57% of the month's rain in one day.

July is moderately variable: 40 mm in the driest year against 457 mm in the wettest, around an average of 160 mm. Roughly two Julys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 13.8 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 81%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How July sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 30.2 °C in June, 30.2 here, 30 in August. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in July

Cartagena sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.7 hours in July, against a range of just 1.2 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 29 °C in July — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 29.3 °C in October and bottoms out at 27.1 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

July in Cartagena versus nearby

If Cartagena is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Barranquilla is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 5 days less rain. Medellín is a better bet in July — 5.3 °C cooler, 1 day more rain.

So: July is a compromise. January is 37 points better and is what Cartagena is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Cartagena

See all twelve months in Cartagena, or where else to go in July.