VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Honolulu or Seattle?

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 Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Honolulu leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Seattle 66: Honolulu leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Seattle 50: Honolulu leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Seattle 87: Honolulu leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Seattle 64: Honolulu leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Seattle 52: Honolulu leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Seattle 22: Seattle leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Seattle 40: Honolulu leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Seattle.

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.

Seattle
54match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluSeattle
City population350,964737,015
People per km²1,9811,996
Museums within 10 km1227
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Seattle 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.