VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Havana or Mombasa?

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 Mombasa for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Mombasa’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, Mombasa 82: Mombasa leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Mombasa 60: Mombasa leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Mombasa 55: Havana leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Mombasa 46: Havana leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Mombasa 45: Mombasa leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Mombasa 45: Mombasa leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Mombasa 30: Havana leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Mombasa 35: Mombasa leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Mombasa 70: Mombasa leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Mombasa 22: Havana leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Mombasa 40: Mombasa leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Mombasa.

Your match

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

Havana
47match

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

Mombasa
Best match
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and food and drink 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

Mombasa in July

28 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
63 mmrain in the month
26 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaMombasa

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.

Mombasa 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). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaMombasa
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation59 m50 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaMombasa
City population2,492,6181,208,333
People per km²3,4234,100
Museums within 10 km120
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Mombasa 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.