VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

Honolulu or Osaka?

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

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

Choose Osaka for

  • day trips
  • prices
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Osaka’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, Osaka 34: Honolulu leads by 57 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Osaka 63: Osaka leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Osaka 58: Honolulu leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 59 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Osaka 60: Osaka leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Osaka.

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.

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on day trips and prices 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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluOsaka

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluOsaka
Official language-Japanese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-10UTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation12 m20 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluOsaka
City population350,9642,751,862
People per km²1,98112,340
Museums within 10 km1244
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km06
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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