VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

Havana or Lucerne?

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

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Lucerne for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Lucerne’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, Lucerne 35: Havana leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Lucerne 35: Havana leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Lucerne 58: Havana leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Lucerne 28: Havana leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 58 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Lucerne 78: Lucerne leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Lucerne 86: Lucerne leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Lucerne 8: Havana leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Lucerne 66: Havana leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Lucerne.

Your match

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

Havana
47match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Lucerne
Best match
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

Lucerne in July

24 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
141 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaLucerne

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.

Lucerne 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.

Lucerne's sunshine is measured 42 km from the centre, at Zurich Town / Ville..

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Havana: 1991-2020 normals, Casa Blanca, La Habana (3.5 km from centre). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaLucerne
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105112
Elevation59 m436 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaLucerne
City population2,492,61886,234
People per km²3,4232,963
Museums within 10 km1214
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 Lucerne 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.