VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline, Macau
MacauThe Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Macau by tian Jin, Pexels License.

Havana or Macau?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Macau for

  • food and drink
  • shopping
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Macau’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, Macau 24: Havana leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Macau 77: Macau leads by 37 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Macau 62: Havana leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Macau 40: Havana leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Macau 5: Havana leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Macau 52: Macau leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Macau 48: Macau leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Macau 60: Macau leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Macau 58: Macau leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Macau 44: Havana leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Macau 36: Havana leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Macau 40: Macau leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Macau.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Havana
47match

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

Macau
46match

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
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Macau in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
281 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaMacau

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Havana: 1991-2020 normals, Casa Blanca, La Habana (3.5 km from centre). Macau: 1991-2020 normals, Taipa (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaMacau
Official languageSpanishPortuguese, Cantonese, Standard Chinese
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Pataca (MOP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzFGM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105999
Elevation59 m22 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsMacau International Airport (MFM)7 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaMacau
City population2,492,618682,100
People per km²3,4235,916
Museums within 10 km1228
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Havana or Macau 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.