VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The Plaza de los Naranjos and its fountain in the old town, Marbella
MarbellaThe Plaza de los Naranjos and its fountain in the old town

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Marbella by Décio Franchini, Pexels License.

Havana or Marbella?

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

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

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

Choose Marbella for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Marbella’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, Marbella 76: Marbella leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Marbella 60: Marbella leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Marbella 32: Havana leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Marbella 64: Marbella leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Marbella 70: Marbella leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Marbella 77: Marbella leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Marbella 70: Marbella leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Havana and Marbella are level on 38.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Marbella 58: Marbella leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Marbella 30: Havana leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Marbella 30: Havana leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Marbella 52: Marbella leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Marbella.

Your match

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

Havana
47match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Marbella
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors 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

Marbella in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaMarbella

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.

Marbella's temperatures are measured 40 km from the centre, at Malaga / Aeropuerto.

Marbella 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). Marbella: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (39.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaMarbella
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 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 m22 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)39 km from centre166 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaMarbella
City population2,492,618159,786
People per km²3,4231,398
Museums within 10 km126
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Havana or Marbella 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. 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.