VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License.

Havana or Mexico City?

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

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

Choose Mexico City for

  • food and drink
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’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, Mexico City 5: Havana leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Mexico City 90: Mexico City leads by 50 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Mexico City 88: Mexico City leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Mexico City 80: Mexico City leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Mexico City 50: Mexico City leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Mexico City 58: Mexico City leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Mexico City 50: Mexico City leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Mexico City 76: Mexico City leads by 46 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Mexico City 72: Havana leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Mexico City 40: Mexico City leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Mexico City.

Your match

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

Havana
47match

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

Mexico City
Best match
63match

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

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaMexico City

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). Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaMexico City
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105911
Elevation59 m2,240 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaMexico City
City population2,492,6189,209,944
People per km²3,4236,202
Museums within 10 km12108
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16
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 Mexico City 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. 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.