VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
Punta del Este

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License.

Alicante or Punta del Este?

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

  • prices
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Punta del Este for

Punta del Este does not lead in any category we score.

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta del Este’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, Punta del Este 72: Alicante leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Punta del Este 45: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Punta del Este 22: Alicante leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Alicante and Punta del Este are level on 60.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Punta del Este 55: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Punta del Este 45: Alicante leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Punta del Este 55: Alicante leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Punta del Este 35: Alicante leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Punta del Este 42: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Punta del Este 20: Alicante leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Punta del Este 22: Alicante leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Punta del Este 32: Alicante leads by 8 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Punta del Este.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Punta del Este
42match

Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.

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

Punta del Este in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AlicantePunta del Este

Where the figures come from

Punta del Este's temperatures are measured 79 km from the centre, at Rocha.

Punta del Este 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). Punta del Este: 1991-2020 normals, Rocha (78.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicantePunta del Este
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m11 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicantePunta del Este
City population366,2219,277
People per km²1,819455
Museums within 10 km85
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Punta del Este 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.