VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Honolulu or Puerto Plata?

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

  • food and drink
  • shopping
  • families

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

Choose Puerto Plata for

  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Plata’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, Puerto Plata 80: Honolulu leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Puerto Plata 40: Honolulu leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Puerto Plata 35: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Puerto Plata 38: Honolulu leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Puerto Plata 68: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Puerto Plata 48: Puerto Plata leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Puerto Plata 57: Honolulu leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Puerto Plata 30: Honolulu leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Puerto Plata 30: Honolulu leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Puerto Plata 64: Puerto Plata leads by 49 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Puerto Plata 18: Honolulu leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Puerto Plata 35: Honolulu leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Honolulu
Best match
57match

Wins on food and drink and shopping with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
45match

Wins on prices and day trips 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

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluPuerto Plata

Where the figures come from

Puerto Plata 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). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluPuerto Plata
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC-4
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m34 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluPuerto Plata
City population350,964-
People per km²1,981-
Museums within 10 km121
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 Puerto Plata 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.