VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Havana or Puerto Plata?

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 Puerto Plata for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Plata’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, Puerto Plata 80: Puerto Plata leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Havana and Puerto Plata are level on 40.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Puerto Plata 35: Havana leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Puerto Plata 38: Havana leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Puerto Plata 68: Puerto Plata leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Puerto Plata 48: Puerto Plata leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Puerto Plata 57: Puerto Plata leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Puerto Plata 30: Havana leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Havana and Puerto Plata are level on 30.
Affordability. Havana 58, Puerto Plata 64: Puerto Plata leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Puerto Plata 18: Havana leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Puerto Plata 35: Puerto Plata leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Havana
47match

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

Puerto Plata
45match

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

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaPuerto Plata

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.

Puerto Plata 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). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaPuerto Plata
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105911
Elevation59 m34 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaPuerto Plata
City population2,492,618-
People per km²3,423-
Museums within 10 km121
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 Puerto Plata 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.