VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Honolulu or Tromso?

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
  • shopping
  • families

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

Choose Tromso for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Honolulu leads by 83 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Tromso 36: Honolulu leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Tromso 27: Honolulu leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Tromso 38: Honolulu leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Tromso 14: Honolulu leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Tromso 45: Honolulu leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Tromso 60: Tromso leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Tromso 15: Honolulu leads by 45 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Tromso 11: Honolulu leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Tromso 32: Honolulu leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Tromso 38: Honolulu leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Tromso.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluTromso
Official language-Norwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation12 m20 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluTromso
City population350,96479,943
People per km²1,98132
Museums within 10 km128
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 Tromso 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.