VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Havana or Sofia?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sofia for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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, Sofia 5: Havana leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Sofia 45: Sofia leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Sofia 60: Havana leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Sofia 50: Havana leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Sofia 80: Sofia leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Sofia 60: Sofia leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Sofia 40: Sofia leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Sofia 65: Sofia leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Sofia 38: Sofia leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Sofia 78: Sofia leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Sofia 50: Havana leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Sofia 45: Sofia leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Sofia.

Your match

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

Havana
47match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Sofia
Best match
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaSofia

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). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaSofia
Official languageSpanishBulgarian
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105112
Elevation59 m560 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaSofia
City population2,492,6181,213,134
People per km²3,4232,466
Museums within 10 km1242
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 Sofia 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.