VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Havana or Zurich?

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

  • prices
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Havana leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, Zurich 53: Zurich leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, Zurich 58: Havana leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 57 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, Zurich 3: Havana leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, Zurich 70: Havana leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and Zurich.

Your match

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

Havana
47match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HavanaZurich

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). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105112
Elevation59 m408 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaZurich
City population2,492,618440,935
People per km²3,4235,016
Museums within 10 km1263
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 Zurich 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. 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.