VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
La Paz

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Havana or La Paz?

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 La Paz for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on La Paz’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, La Paz 3: Havana leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, La Paz 50: La Paz leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, La Paz 52: Havana leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, La Paz 38: Havana leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, La Paz 82: La Paz leads by 48 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, La Paz 40: La Paz leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, La Paz 10: Havana leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, La Paz 45: La Paz leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, La Paz 45: La Paz leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, La Paz 92: La Paz leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, La Paz 35: Havana leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, La Paz 12: Havana leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and La Paz.

Your match

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

Havana
Best match
47match

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

La Paz
42match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

La Paz in July

13 °Cdaytime high
-2 °Cnight-time low
16 mmrain in the month
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaLa Paz

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.

La Paz has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Havana: 1991-2020 normals, Casa Blanca, La Habana (3.5 km from centre). La Paz: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureHavanaLa Paz
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Aymara, Quechua, Guarani
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Boliviano (BOB)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAC50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105911
Elevation59 m3,640 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsEl Alto International Airport (LPB)6 km from centre12 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaLa Paz
City population2,492,618755,732
People per km²3,4231,601
Museums within 10 km1221
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Havana or La Paz 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.