VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Havana or Tampa?

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 Tampa for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Tampa 57: Tampa leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Tampa 42: Havana leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Tampa 52: Havana leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Tampa 55: Tampa leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 44 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Tampa 22: Havana leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Tampa 40: Havana leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Tampa 47: Havana leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Tampa 30: Tampa leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Tampa.

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

Tampa
49match

Wins on families and nature and the outdoors 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaTampa

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). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaTampa
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)US Dollar (USD)
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 m30 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaTampa
City population2,492,618384,959
People per km²3,423848
Museums within 10 km126
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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