VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The Petronas Twin Towers from KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur
Kuala LumpurThe Petronas Twin Towers from KLCC Park

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Kuala Lumpur by Brownc, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Havana or Kuala Lumpur?

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

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

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

Choose Kuala Lumpur for

  • food and drink
  • shopping
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Kuala Lumpur’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, Kuala Lumpur 12: Havana leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Kuala Lumpur 82: Kuala Lumpur leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Kuala Lumpur 57: Havana leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Kuala Lumpur 54: Havana leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Kuala Lumpur 47: Kuala Lumpur leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Kuala Lumpur 52: Kuala Lumpur leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Kuala Lumpur 64: Kuala Lumpur leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Kuala Lumpur 57: Kuala Lumpur leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Kuala Lumpur 66: Kuala Lumpur leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Kuala Lumpur 75: Kuala Lumpur leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Kuala Lumpur 42: Havana leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Kuala Lumpur 44: Kuala Lumpur leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Kuala Lumpur.

Your match

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

Havana
47match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Kuala Lumpur
Best match
54match

Wins on food and drink and shopping 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
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Kuala Lumpur in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
139 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaKuala Lumpur

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.

Kuala Lumpur's temperatures are measured 46 km from the centre, at Sepang/KL International Airport.

Kuala Lumpur 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). Kuala Lumpur: 1991-2020 normals, Sepang/KL International Airport (46.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaKuala Lumpur
Official languageSpanishMalay
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105999
Elevation59 m50 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsKuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL)45 km from centre146 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaKuala Lumpur
City population2,492,6189,000,280
People per km²3,42336,932
Museums within 10 km1225
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Kuala Lumpur 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.