VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
Seven Mile Beach, Negril
NegrilSeven Mile Beach

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Negril by gustavo.kunst, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Havana or Negril?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Negril for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Negril’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, Negril 93: Negril leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Negril 36: Havana leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Negril 8: Havana leads by 69 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Negril 40: Havana leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Negril 60: Negril leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Negril 35: Havana leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Negril 45: Negril leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Negril 30: Havana leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Negril 15: Havana leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Negril 44: Havana leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Negril 33: Havana leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Negril 52: Negril leads by 30 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Negril.

Your match

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

Havana
Best match
47match

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

Negril
41match

Wins on wellness and beaches 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

Negril in July

34 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaNegril

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.

Negril's temperatures are measured 52 km from the centre, at Montego Bay / Sangster.

Negril 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). Negril: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (51.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaNegril
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation59 m10 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)52 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaNegril
City population2,492,6184,500
People per km²3,423-
Museums within 10 km120
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Negril 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.