VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Honolulu or Madrid?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Madrid for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Madrid’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, Madrid 5: Honolulu leads by 86 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Madrid 60: Honolulu leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Madrid 68: Honolulu leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Madrid 36: Honolulu leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Madrid.

Your match

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

Honolulu
57match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and nightlife 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

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluMadrid
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation12 m663 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluMadrid
City population350,9643,506,730
People per km²1,9815,801
Museums within 10 km1288
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
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 Madrid 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under 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.