VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Alicante 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 Alicante for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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

Choose Puerto Plata for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Alicante 82, Puerto Plata 80: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Puerto Plata 40: Alicante leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Puerto Plata 35: Alicante leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Puerto Plata 38: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Puerto Plata 68: Puerto Plata leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Puerto Plata 48: Alicante leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Puerto Plata 57: Alicante leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Puerto Plata 30: Alicante leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Puerto Plata 30: Alicante leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Puerto Plata 64: Puerto Plata leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Puerto Plata 18: Alicante leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Puerto Plata 35: Alicante leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and food and drink with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AlicantePuerto 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. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicantePuerto Plata
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m34 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicantePuerto Plata
City population366,221-
People per km²1,819-
Museums within 10 km81
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.