While the rest of Colombia argues about umbrellas, Santa Marta keeps showing up with its sunglasses on.
It logs around 2,827 hours of sunshine a year, making it one of the sunniest cities in the Western Hemisphere. For comparison, the sunniest city is Yuma, Arizona, at 4,055 hours of bright sunshine per year, while big cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix get about 3,800 hours of sunshine per year, and Los Angeles gets 3,250 hours of sunshine per year.
By the total number of sunshine hours, Santa Marta is the sunniest major city in Colombia. The only part of Colombia where there’s more sunshine is the desert of La Guajira, which starts about 2 hours east of Santa Marta.
In La Guajira, the tiny city of Uribia (3,066 sunshine hours) has slightly more sunshine. In contrast, Riohacha, the largest and most touristy city in La Guajira, gets 2,739 sunshine hours, which is only slightly less sunny than Santa Marta.
The other sunniest region of Colombia is far out in the Caribbean Sea, where you will find the idyllic tropical islands of San Andrés (2,664 sunshine hours) and Providencia (2,592 sunshine hours).
The Colombian City Sunshine Leaderboard
Here is how 10 major Colombian cities stack up for rainy days and sunny days based on data from Wikipedia and IDEAM.
| City | Sunshine hours/year | Rainy days/year |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Santa Marta | 2,827 | 76 |
| 2. Barranquilla | 2,571 | 61 |
| 3. Valledupar | 2,545 | 94 |
| 4. Cartagena | 2,524 | 70 |
| 5. Cúcuta | 2,230 | 89 |
| 6. Montería | 2,165 | 95 |
| 7. Cali | 1,944 | 164 |
| 8. Bucaramanga | 1,908 | 180 |
| 9. Medellín | 1,854 | 173 |
| 10. Bogotá | 1,337 | 181 |
Who’s Who On The Sunshine List
The coast crew. Barranquilla and Cartagena are right behind. Same warm Caribbean air, a few more clouds, but Santa Marta wins for sunshine hours and the best sunsets (El Rodadero, actually).
The mushy middle. Cali and Bucaramanga sit inland, where the hills pull down afternoon clouds like clockwork. Medellín is the City of Eternal Spring, which sounds sunnier than it is. Spring means mild, not cloudless, and Medellín does grey days with real commitment.
Dead last. Bogotá sits at 2,600 metres, cool and cloudy, packing a jacket in a country famous for beaches. It gets less than half of Santa Marta’s sunshine. Bring a sweater and low expectations. London, England is sunnier than Bogotá.
Why Santa Marta Hogs All The Sun
Four things line up here, and they all work in the city’s favour.
1. The mountain is a giant rain bouncer.
Right behind the city, the Sierra Nevada shoots up past 5,700 metres in about 40 kilometres. Wet clouds roll in, hit the wall, and dump their rain on the slopes. The city stands on the dry side and gets the leftovers, which is barely any.
2. The wind sweeps the sky clean.
From December to March, strong trade winds push clouds along the coast like a Roomba on a mission. Fair warning: your hat is not safe as there’s also something called La Brisa Loca.
3. The sun works a full shift.
This close to the equator, daylight barely changes. It runs about 11 to 13 hours all year. No gloomy short winter days. The sun here does not believe in half days.
4. Two dry seasons, because one felt stingy.
The big dry stretch runs from December to April. Then a bonus dry spell drops in around June and July. Two long runs of blue sky, spaced out like a well-planned holiday.
The Plot Twist: It’s Not Even The Driest
Cartagena actually gets a touch less rain over the year. Santa Marta still wins on sunshine because when its skies are clear, they are really clear.
Santa Marta’s Climate (Month By Month)
Here is the whole year of sunshine in Santa Marta at a glance.
| Climate data for Santa Marta (Simón Bolívar International Airport), elevation 4 m (13 ft), (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high | 37.0 (98.6) | 38.2 (100.8) | 37.0 (98.6) | 37.6 (99.7) | 37.4 (99.3) | 37.4 (99.3) | 37.8 (100.0) | 37.4 (99.3) | 38.3 (100.9) | 37.2 (99.0) | 38.2 (100.8) | 37.6 (99.7) | 38.3 (100.9) |
| Daily max | 33.1 (91.6) | 33.7 (92.7) | 33.9 (93.0) | 33.8 (92.8) | 33.2 (91.8) | 33.3 (91.9) | 33.4 (92.1) | 33.1 (91.6) | 32.9 (91.2) | 32.4 (90.3) | 32.4 (90.3) | 32.7 (90.9) | 33.2 (91.8) |
| Daily mean | 27.6 (81.7) | 28.1 (82.6) | 28.5 (83.3) | 29.2 (84.6) | 29.3 (84.7) | 29.4 (84.9) | 29.2 (84.6) | 28.9 (84.0) | 28.6 (83.5) | 28.2 (82.8) | 28.0 (82.4) | 27.8 (82.0) | 28.6 (83.5) |
| Daily min | 22.6 (72.7) | 23.5 (74.3) | 24.5 (76.1) | 25.5 (77.9) | 25.7 (78.3) | 25.4 (77.7) | 25.0 (77.0) | 24.8 (76.6) | 24.7 (76.5) | 24.4 (75.9) | 24.0 (75.2) | 23.1 (73.6) | 24.4 (75.9) |
| Record low | 17.4 (63.3) | 18.3 (64.9) | 20.0 (68.0) | 19.0 (66.2) | 18.0 (64.4) | 19.0 (66.2) | 18.0 (64.4) | 18.0 (64.4) | 17.0 (62.6) | 17.0 (62.6) | 17.0 (62.6) | 18.0 (64.4) | 17.0 (62.6) |
| Rain | 0.1 (0.00) | 1.3 (0.05) | 2.2 (0.09) | 13.6 (0.54) | 51.8 (2.04) | 60.2 (2.37) | 62.0 (2.44) | 62.5 (2.46) | 99.0 (3.90) | 126.9 (5.00) | 74.3 (2.93) | 8.3 (0.33) | 562.1 (22.13) |
| Rainydays | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 76 |
| Humidity | 74 | 72 | 72 | 74 | 76 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 79 | 76 | 76 |
| Sunshine hours | 285.2 | 248.4 | 251.1 | 228.0 | 223.2 | 228.0 | 232.5 | 220.1 | 201.0 | 204.6 | 219.0 | 269.7 | 2,810.8 |
Long-term monthly averages. Source: Santa Marta’s climate section on Wikipedia and IDEAM.
December to April is peak sunglasses weather. Rain basically ghosts you, and the sun clocks seven to eight hours a day.
May starts the wet months. September and October are when the sky finally cries, with October the soggiest at around 172 mm.
Even then, you still get about six hours of sun. The rain here prefers short dramatic bursts, usually late in the day, then it clears up and acts like nothing happened.
When To Book Your Trip To Santa Marta
For near-guaranteed sun and dry days, aim for December to March. It lines up with the northern winter, so everyone else has the same idea. Expect some company.
July is a quieter dry window if you want the sun without the crowds.
September and October are the wettest. Good news if you like your hills green and your hotel prices lower.
For more on this, read our guide to the best time to visit Santa Marta for weather.
The Best Part Is Sun With An Escape Hatch
Plenty of sunny places are flat, dry, and a little one-note. Santa Marta is not.
The same mountains that keep the coast bright also give you somewhere to hide. In under an hour you can swap a hot beach for the cool green hills of Minca, or climb higher into the sierra.
The wet season keeps those hills green and the rivers full. The dry season brings the hard blue sky back. The sea stays warm all year, around 26 to 29°C.
So it is not only the sunshine hours. It is steady sun on the coast, cooler air a short drive away, and a green season that hits refresh on the whole place.
Pack sunscreen. Pack a light jacket for the mountains. Leave the umbrella at home.
He runs a cultural ecotourism company called Sacred Treks, where he ran some retreats in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and fell in love with this area of Colombia.
You can follow him on Instagram @kaaist
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