VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
Whitehall, Henry Flagler's mansion, now the Flagler Museum, Palm Beach
Palm BeachWhitehall, Henry Flagler's mansion, now the Flagler Museum

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Palm Beach by Khowald, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Honolulu or Palm Beach?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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

Choose Palm Beach for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Palm Beach’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, Palm Beach 82: Honolulu leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Palm Beach 47: Honolulu leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Palm Beach 45: Honolulu leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Palm Beach 32: Honolulu leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Palm Beach 58: Honolulu leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Palm Beach 55: Palm Beach leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Palm Beach 62: Honolulu leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Palm Beach 32: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Palm Beach 66: Palm Beach leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Palm Beach 12: Honolulu leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Palm Beach 45: Palm Beach leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Palm Beach 55: Palm Beach leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Palm Beach.

Your match

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

Honolulu
Best match
57match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and food and drink with your weighting.

Palm Beach
49match

Wins on day trips and shopping 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

Palm Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluPalm Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Palm Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Palm Beach International (6.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluPalm Beach
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 m2 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsPresident Donald J. Trump International Airport (DJT)6 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluPalm Beach
City population350,9649,245
People per km²1,981322
Museums within 10 km124
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Honolulu or Palm Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.