VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Honolulu or Panama City?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Panama City for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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, Panama City 44: Honolulu leads by 47 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Panama City 57: Honolulu leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Panama City 74: Honolulu leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Panama City 50: Panama City leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Panama City 45: Honolulu leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Panama City 40: Honolulu leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Panama City 52: Honolulu leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Panama City 34: Honolulu leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Panama City 22: Honolulu leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Panama City.

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.

Panama City
50match

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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluPanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City 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). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluPanama City
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m20 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluPanama City
City population350,9641,540,000
People per km²1,9815,600
Museums within 10 km1210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Panama City 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.