VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline, Macau
MacauThe Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Macau by tian Jin, Pexels License.

Honolulu or Macau?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Macau for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Macau’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, Macau 24: Honolulu leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Macau 77: Macau leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Macau 62: Macau leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Macau 40: Honolulu leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Macau 5: Honolulu leads by 83 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Macau 52: Macau leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Macau 48: Honolulu leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Macau 60: Macau leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Macau 58: Honolulu leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Macau 44: Macau leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Macau 36: Honolulu leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Macau 40: Honolulu leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Macau.

Your match

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

Honolulu
Best match
57match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Macau
46match

Wins on prices 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.

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

Macau in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
281 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluMacau

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Macau: 1991-2020 normals, Taipa (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluMacau
Official language-Portuguese, Cantonese, Standard Chinese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Pataca (MOP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzFGM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-10UTC+8
Emergency number911999
Elevation12 m22 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsMacau International Airport (MFM)7 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluMacau
City population350,964682,100
People per km²1,9815,916
Museums within 10 km1228
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Honolulu or Macau 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.