VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Honolulu or New York?

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 York for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on New York’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 York 50: Honolulu leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, New York 92: New York leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, New York 89: New York leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, New York 97: New York leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, New York 55: Honolulu leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, New York 68: New York leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, New York 70: Honolulu leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, New York 82: New York leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, New York 97: New York leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, New York 12: Honolulu leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, New York 99: New York leads by 59 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, New York 42: Honolulu leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

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.

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluNew York

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluNew York
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m25 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluNew York
City population350,9648,804,190
People per km²1,9817,256
Museums within 10 km12157
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

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