VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Honolulu or Varanasi?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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, Varanasi 4: Honolulu leads by 87 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Varanasi 55: Honolulu leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Varanasi 10: Honolulu leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Varanasi 18: Honolulu leads by 70 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Varanasi 42: Varanasi leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Varanasi 5: Honolulu leads by 75 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Varanasi 28: Honolulu leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Varanasi 55: Honolulu leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 77 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Varanasi 30: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Varanasi.

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.

Varanasi
40match

Wins on prices and culture and sights 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

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluVaranasi

Where the figures come from

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluVaranasi
Official language-Hindi, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-10UTC+5:30
Emergency number911108 or 112
Elevation12 m76 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluVaranasi
City population350,9641,198,491
People per km²1,98114,598
Museums within 10 km122
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Honolulu or Varanasi 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.