VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Honolulu or Santa Monica?

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
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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, Santa Monica 66: Honolulu leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Santa Monica 60: Honolulu leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Santa Monica 35: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Santa Monica 38: Honolulu leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Santa Monica 72: Honolulu leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Santa Monica 70: Honolulu leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Honolulu and Santa Monica are level on 52.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Santa Monica 56: Honolulu leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Santa Monica 14: Honolulu leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Santa Monica 38: Honolulu leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Santa Monica 45: Honolulu leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Santa Monica.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on 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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluSanta Monica
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m32 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluSanta Monica
City population350,96493,076
People per km²1,9814,270
Museums within 10 km1219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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