VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
Punta del Este

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Havana or Punta del Este?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Punta del Este for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta del Este’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, Punta del Este 72: Punta del Este leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Punta del Este 45: Punta del Este leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Punta del Este 22: Havana leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Havana and Punta del Este are level on 60.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Punta del Este 55: Punta del Este leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Punta del Este 45: Punta del Este leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Punta del Este 55: Punta del Este leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Punta del Este 35: Havana leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Punta del Este 42: Punta del Este leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Punta del Este 20: Havana leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Punta del Este 22: Havana leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Punta del Este 32: Punta del Este leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Punta del Este.

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.

Punta del Este
42match

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
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Punta del Este in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaPunta del Este

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.

Punta del Este's temperatures are measured 79 km from the centre, at Rocha.

Punta del Este 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). Punta del Este: 1991-2020 normals, Rocha (78.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaPunta del Este
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105911
Elevation59 m11 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaPunta del Este
City population2,492,6189,277
People per km²3,423455
Museums within 10 km125
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Havana or Punta del Este 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.