VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Honolulu or Kathmandu?

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 Honolulu for

  • beaches
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Kathmandu for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Kathmandu’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. Honolulu 91, Kathmandu 4: Honolulu leads by 87 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Kathmandu 55: Honolulu leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Kathmandu 82: Kathmandu leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Kathmandu 36: Honolulu leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Kathmandu 70: Honolulu leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Kathmandu 56: Kathmandu leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Kathmandu 20: Honolulu leads by 60 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Kathmandu 25: Honolulu leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Kathmandu 55: Honolulu leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Kathmandu 97: Kathmandu leads by 82 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Kathmandu 28: Honolulu leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Kathmandu 45: Honolulu leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Kathmandu.

Your match

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

Honolulu
Best match
57match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Honolulu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluKathmandu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluKathmandu
Official language-Nepali
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-10UTC+5:45
Emergency number911Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation12 m1,300 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluKathmandu
City population350,964845,767
People per km²1,98117,121
Museums within 10 km129
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Honolulu or Kathmandu 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. 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.