VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Honolulu or Medellin?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Medellin for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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, Medellin 5: Honolulu leads by 86 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Medellin 58: Honolulu leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Medellin 42: Honolulu leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Medellin 66: Honolulu leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Medellin 50: Honolulu leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Medellin 55: Medellin leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Medellin 45: Honolulu leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 65 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Medellin 42: Medellin leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Medellin 30: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Medellin.

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.

Medellin
51match

Wins on prices 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
26 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluMedellin

Where the figures come from

Medellin 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. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluMedellin
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC-5
Emergency number911123
Elevation12 m1,405 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluMedellin
City population350,9642,529,403
People per km²1,9816,644
Museums within 10 km1214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Medellin 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.