VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped.

Havana or Rio de Janeiro?

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

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

Choose Rio de Janeiro for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’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, Rio de Janeiro 92: Rio de Janeiro leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Rio de Janeiro 62: Rio de Janeiro leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Rio de Janeiro 68: Havana leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Rio de Janeiro 80: Rio de Janeiro leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Rio de Janeiro 90: Rio de Janeiro leads by 56 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Rio de Janeiro 44: Rio de Janeiro leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Rio de Janeiro 60: Rio de Janeiro leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Rio de Janeiro 66: Havana leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Rio de Janeiro 30: Rio de Janeiro leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Rio de Janeiro.

Your match

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

Havana
47match

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

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaRio de Janeiro

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.

Rio de Janeiro has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Havana: 1991-2020 normals, Casa Blanca, La Habana (3.5 km from centre). Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureHavanaRio de Janeiro
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation59 m31 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaRio de Janeiro
City population2,492,6186,211,223
People per km²3,4234,930
Museums within 10 km1269
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Rio de Janeiro 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.