VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
Rocks and beach in Tangolunda Bay, Huatulco
HuatulcoRocks and beach in Tangolunda Bay

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Huatulco by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Havana or Huatulco?

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 Havana for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Huatulco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Huatulco’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. Havana 64, Huatulco 86: Huatulco leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Huatulco 44: Huatulco leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Huatulco 15: Havana leads by 62 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Huatulco 24: Havana leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Huatulco 76: Huatulco leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Huatulco 40: Huatulco leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Huatulco 56: Huatulco leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Huatulco 33: Havana leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Huatulco 20: Havana leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Huatulco 62: Huatulco leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Huatulco 9: Havana leads by 65 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Huatulco 52: Huatulco leads by 30 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Huatulco.

Your match

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

Havana
Best match
47match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

Huatulco
43match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Havana in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
118 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Huatulco in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
156 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaHuatulco

Where the figures come from

Havana has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Huatulco's temperatures are measured 42 km from the centre, at Puerto Angel, Oax..

Huatulco's station stands 177 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Huatulco has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Havana: 1991-2020 normals, Casa Blanca, La Habana (3.5 km from centre). Huatulco: 1991-2020 normals, Puerto Angel, Oax. (42.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaHuatulco
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105911
Elevation59 m220 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsBahías de Huatulco International Airport (HUX)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaHuatulco
City population2,492,6187,409
People per km²3,423-
Museums within 10 km120
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Havana or Huatulco 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). 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). Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.