Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best time to visit Cartagena is January, February, March, when the weather, flight prices, and crowds align. — consistent weather climate
⛈Hot & rainy
| Score | 83 | 83 | 78 | 65 | 55 | 55 | 57 | 55 | 56 | 51 | 55 | 75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Hot & dry | Hot & dry | Hot & dry | Hot & dry | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & dry |
| Temperature | 24–31°C | 24–32°C | 25–32°C | 25–32°C | 26–31°C | 25–30°C | 25–31°C | 25–30°C | 25–30°C | 25–29°C | 25–29°C | 25–31°C |
| Feels like | 27–36°C | 27–36°C | 27–37°C | 29–38°C | 31–37°C | 30–37°C | 30–37°C | 30–37°C | 30–37°C | 30–36°C | 29–35°C | 29–36°C |
| Precipitation | 12mm 3 days | 6mm 2 days | 15mm 4 days | 64mm 10 days | 144mm 20 days | 153mm 19 days | 132mm 17 days | 141mm 19 days | 139mm 20 days | 187mm 25 days | 187mm 22 days | 32mm 8 days |
| Sunshine | 11.1h ☀︎ 95% | 11.3h ☀︎ 95% | 11.4h ☀︎ 95% | 9.4h ☀︎ 76% | 6.8h ☀︎ 54% | 6.7h ☀︎ 53% | 7.3h ☀︎ 58% | 6.6h ☀︎ 53% | 6.2h ☀︎ 51% | 6.4h ☀︎ 54% | 7.3h ☀︎ 63% | 10.9h ☀︎ 94% |
| Wind | NE · 25 km/h | N · 27 km/h | NE · 27 km/h | NE · 21 km/h | N · 16 km/h | SE · 15 km/h | NE · 18 km/h | N · 16 km/h | SW · 15 km/h | SW · 15 km/h | SW · 16 km/h | NE · 20 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 75% | 72% | 74% | 79% | 84% | 84% | 83% | 84% | 85% | 85% | 85% | 80% |
| Day length | 11.6h | 11.8h | 12.1h | 12.4h | 12.6h | 12.7h | 12.7h | 12.5h | 12.2h | 11.9h | 11.6h | 11.5h |
| Tourist Crowds | Shoulder season | High season | High season | Shoulder season | Low season | Shoulder season | High season | High season | Low season | Low season | Shoulder season | High season |
Cartagena erupts in celebration every November 11th to mark its declaration of independence, with parades, live music, d…
One of the world's leading literary festivals brings acclaimed authors, journalists, and thinkers to Cartagena's colonia…
Latin America's oldest film festival screens features and documentaries from across the region in historic theaters and…
Cartagena does not reward contrarians: the dry, salt-crusted Caribbean winter between December and February is universally celebrated because the rest of the year is a relentless test of endurance against tropical downpours and oppressive humidity.
Cartagena de Indias was engineered around ocean trade winds and stone fortifications, built as the fortified Spanish gateway through which silver flowed out to the empire and enslaved human beings were funneled into the continent. Today, the massive ramparts along the Caribbean Sea encase an open-air sensory spectacle of ochre masonry, sprawling bougainvillea, and street vendors hawking sliced mango sprinkled with lime and salt. But the city's climate is an unforgiving tropical furnace. There is no subtle autumn chill or gentle spring thaw here. Your entire experience hinges on whether the trade winds are blowing dry air across the stone walls or whether the sky is dumping tropical deluge onto asphalt and cobblestone.
December through February is the undisputed prime cut of Cartagena's calendar. The northeasterly trade winds—known locally as the brisas alisias—sweep in off the Caribbean Sea, snapping the humidity down to something manageable and providing an eleven-hour daily flood of crisp tropical sunlight. Midday is still searing, with apparent temperatures hovering in the mid-thirties, but the constant ocean breeze makes strolling the pastel lanes of San Diego or walking the perimeter fortifications an absolute pleasure rather than an act of survival.
Life during these months moves out into the plazas. Evenings in Getsemaní lose the sticky weight that defines the rest of the year, transforming street corners into impromptu cumbia and salsa sessions beneath strings of hanging paper flags. Literature lovers pack the courtyards and colonial halls during the Hay Festival Cartagena in late January and early February, spilling out into open-air book stalls as the night air cools.
Because this window is no secret, you will share the stones of Centro with plenty of company, and the wide sands of Bocagrande will be dense with beach chairs and umbrella vendors. But unlike many global capitals where peak crowd spoils the romance, Cartagena requires this communal kinetic energy to feel fully alive. The trade winds make the crowds tolerable, and the bone-dry skies mean outdoor dining and sunset drinks along the ramparts at Las Bóvedas are guaranteed every single night.
March is the most congested month on the city's calendar, drawing a surging tide of visitors that overtakes even the midwinter holidays. The weather remains overwhelmingly dry and brilliant, offering long sunny stretches that draw cinephiles to open-air screenings in the historic squares during the Cartagena International Film Festival (FICCI). Watching classic Latin American cinema projected against 400-year-old stone while tropical air rolls through the alleys of Centro is one of the continent's great cultural experiences.
Yet the comfort clock is ticking. By the time April arrives, the cooling trade winds drop out, leaving behind a heavy, motionless tropical blanket. Rain begins to creep back into the equation in sudden afternoon bursts, and the apparent heat climbs to a stifling level that catches unprepared travelers off guard.
In April, the midday hours become unnavigable without shelter. If you find yourself in the city during this transition, the rhythm of your day must mirror the locals: venture out to the massive ramparts of Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas at the earliest crack of dawn, retreat into air conditioning or deep courtyard shade while the sun is vertical, and wait for dusk before attempting to cross Plaza Santo Domingo.
From May through August, Cartagena enters an extended green season where the atmosphere feels permanently saturated. High afternoon temperatures feel closer to forty degrees on your skin, and rainfall turns regular, dropping heavy, theatrical downpours that fill the stone gutters and briefly turn colonial alleys into shallow canals. When the rain breaks, the midday sun instantly bakes the damp stone, sending steam rising off the plazas.
Interestingly, crowds do not entirely vanish. July and August see a distinct mid-year surge of travelers taking advantage of summer vacations, braving the humidity to wander between boutique galleries in San Diego and the modern high-rises lining the beaches of Bocagrande. These travelers must adjust their expectations: beach afternoons are often cut short by sudden thunderheads rolling in from the ocean, and linen shirts will be soaked through within ten minutes of leaving your door.
If you travel now, the city's sensory details become your compass. You learn to walk only on the shaded sides of the street beneath heavy wooden balconies, drink fresh coconut water cracked open on demand by street carts, and time your walks around Getsemaní to late afternoon, just after the clouds burst and clean the air.
September and October represent the true nadir of Cartagena's weather cycle, dominated by the wettest, heaviest weeks of the year. October in particular brings relentless cloud cover and torrential rainfall that can waterlog entire afternoons and flood low-lying coastal roads. The city thins out dramatically; September sees tourism dwindle to its lowest ebb. If your priority is seeing the colonial core completely empty of tour groups, this is when Plaza de Bolívar sits quiet under dripping palm leaves, but you will pay for that solitude with rain-canceled plans and unyielding mugginess.
Then comes November, which fractures the monsoon monotony with Cartagena's most explosive cultural moment. Around November 11th, the city throws itself headlong into the Cartagena Independence Festivities. While the skies are still prone to sudden, drenching rainstorms, nobody in the streets seems to care. Brass bands take over the plazas, costumed dancers snake through Getsemaní, and wild celebratory energy shatters the sleepy off-season calm.
November gives you the authentic, unfiltered soul of modern Cartagena—a city proud of its hard-won freedom and completely unbothered by bad weather. If you want pristine beach days, stay away; but if you want to dance in a tropical rainstorm while brass horns echo off seventeenth-century bastions, there is nothing else like it.