VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Havana or Varanasi?

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
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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, Varanasi 4: Havana leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Varanasi 10: Havana leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Varanasi 18: Havana leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Varanasi 42: Varanasi leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Varanasi 5: Havana leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Varanasi 28: Havana leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Varanasi 58: Havana leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Varanasi 30: Varanasi leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Havana
Best match
47match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Varanasi
40match

Wins on prices and shopping 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

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaVaranasi

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.

Varanasi 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). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureHavanaVaranasi
Official languageSpanishHindi, English
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105108 or 112
Elevation59 m76 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaVaranasi
City population2,492,6181,198,491
People per km²3,42314,598
Museums within 10 km122
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 Varanasi 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.