VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Honolulu or New Orleans?

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
  • families

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

Choose New Orleans for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on New Orleans’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, New Orleans 14: Honolulu leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, New Orleans 84: New Orleans leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, New Orleans 67: New Orleans leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, New Orleans 85: New Orleans leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, New Orleans 42: Honolulu leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, New Orleans 52: New Orleans leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, New Orleans 55: Honolulu leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, New Orleans 55: New Orleans leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, New Orleans 54: Honolulu leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, New Orleans 40: New Orleans leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, New Orleans 80: New Orleans leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, New Orleans 25: Honolulu leads by 25 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and New Orleans.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

New Orleans
54match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluNew Orleans

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluNew Orleans
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m-2 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluNew Orleans
City population350,964383,997
People per km²1,981423
Museums within 10 km1216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Honolulu or New Orleans 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.