Santa Marta, Colombia: population, climate, map and landmarks

Overview

Santa Marta is a city in Colombia, in Magdalena Department. About 499,192 people live in the city proper, making it the 10th largest city of Colombia in our atlas.

It lies at 11.24° N, 74.19° W, about 14 m (46 ft) above sea level, and keeps time on the America/Bogota time zone. It sits inside the tropics.

Location

Red dot: Santa Marta. Green dots: other major cities of Colombia. Map data: Natural Earth.

Climate

Santa Marta has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw). The warmest month is usually Feb, with average highs near 31°C (88°F); the coolest nights come in Jan at about 23°C (74°F). Around 848 mm (33 in) of rain and snow falls in a typical year, most of it in Oct.

Bars: average daily high and low (°C) for each month; blue columns and figures: average precipitation (mm). Gridded 2001-2025 averages from NASA POWER, so mountain and coastal spots can differ from local station records.

Landmarks and places to see

Museo de Oro TaironaNational monument of Colombia

Popular sights within a few kilometres of the city centre, ranked by how widely they are documented on Wikipedia.

What to eat in ColombiaNational dishes, street food, desserts and drinks on Intercontinental Chef.

Nearby major cities

← Colombia All cities

Sources

Population, coordinates, elevation, time zone: GeoNames 3668605 (CC BY 4.0)
Wikidata Q209016 (CC0)
Climate: NASA POWER 2001-2025 climatology

Text written by Geographical Effect from these sources.

Photo credits

2018 Santa Marta (Colombia) - Edificio de los Bancos en el Parque Simón Bolívar: Felipe Restrepo Acosta, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Casa de la Aduana Santa Marta: Jdvillalobos, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)