VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Havana or Ottawa?

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
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Ottawa for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Ottawa’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, Ottawa 35: Havana leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Ottawa 45: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Ottawa 62: Havana leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Ottawa 35: Havana leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Ottawa 62: Ottawa leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Ottawa 40: Ottawa leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Ottawa 40: Havana leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Ottawa 52: Havana leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 33 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Havana
47match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Ottawa
Best match
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families 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

Ottawa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaOttawa

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). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaOttawa
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105911
Elevation59 m70 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaOttawa
City population2,492,6181,017,449
People per km²3,423366
Museums within 10 km1220
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Ottawa 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.