VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Amsterdam or Phuket?

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 Amsterdam for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Phuket for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Phuket’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. Amsterdam 25, Phuket 90: Phuket leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Phuket 66: Phuket leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Phuket 35: Amsterdam leads by 47 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Phuket 72: Amsterdam leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Phuket 80: Phuket leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Phuket 45: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Phuket 65: Amsterdam leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Phuket 22: Amsterdam leads by 64 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Phuket 42: Amsterdam leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Phuket 68: Phuket leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Phuket 20: Amsterdam leads by 58 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Phuket 82: Phuket leads by 40 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Phuket.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Phuket
57match

Wins on beaches 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.

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Phuket in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
287 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamPhuket

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam 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.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Phuket's temperatures are measured 27 km from the centre, at Phuket Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamPhuket
Official languageDutchThai
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Baht (THB)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation-2 m19 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamPhuket
City population921,46877,610
People per km²4,2086,468
Museums within 10 km1012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Phuket 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.