VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The church of San Estanislao at Altos de Chavón, La Romana
La RomanaThe church of San Estanislao at Altos de Chavón

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; La Romana by Edgar El, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Havana or La Romana?

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 La Romana for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on La Romana’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 Romana 84: La Romana leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, La Romana 38: Havana leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, La Romana 24: Havana leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, La Romana 30: Havana leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, La Romana 62: La Romana leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, La Romana 52: La Romana leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, La Romana 56: La Romana leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, La Romana 24: Havana leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, La Romana 28: Havana leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, La Romana 50: Havana leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, La Romana 17: Havana leads by 57 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, La Romana 44: La Romana leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and La Romana.

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.

La Romana
42match

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.

Havana in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
118 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

La Romana in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaLa Romana

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 Romana's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Punta Cana.

La Romana 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). La Romana: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Punta Cana (65.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaLa Romana
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105911
Elevation59 m10 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsCasa De Campo International Airport (LRM)7 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaLa Romana
City population2,492,618139,238
People per km²3,423512
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 La Romana 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.