VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Havana or Washington DC?

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
  • prices
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • families
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Havana leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Washington DC 57: Havana leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 39 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Washington DC 28: Havana leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Washington DC 67: Havana leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Washington DC 26: Washington DC leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Havana
47match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on families and day trips 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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaWashington DC

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). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaWashington DC
City population2,492,618689,545
People per km²3,4233,896
Museums within 10 km1298
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 Washington DC 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.