VacationSelector
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach

Photos: Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License.

Charleston or Honolulu?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Charleston for

  • day trips
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Charleston’s own page.

Choose Honolulu for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Honolulu’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Charleston 72, Honolulu 91: Honolulu leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Charleston 72, Honolulu 70: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Charleston 64, Honolulu 55: Charleston leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Charleston 44, Honolulu 45: Honolulu leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Charleston 55, Honolulu 88: Honolulu leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Charleston 62, Honolulu 38: Charleston leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Charleston 60, Honolulu 80: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Charleston 46, Honolulu 52: Honolulu leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Charleston 55, Honolulu 60: Honolulu leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Charleston 27, Honolulu 15: Charleston leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Charleston 42, Honolulu 40: Charleston leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Charleston 40, Honolulu 50: Honolulu leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Charleston and Honolulu.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Charleston
53match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

Honolulu
Best match
57match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Honolulu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
26 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CharlestonHonolulu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre). Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCharlestonHonolulu
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-10
Emergency number911911
Elevation6 m12 m
Main airportCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCharlestonHonolulu
City population150,227350,964
People per km²5321,981
Museums within 10 km1912
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Charleston or Honolulu somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.