VacationSelector
The Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest
BudapestThe Fisherman's Bastion
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Budapest by Perituss, CC0; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Budapest 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 Budapest for

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

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

Choose Phuket for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Budapest 25, Phuket 90: Phuket leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Budapest 63, Phuket 66: Phuket leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Budapest 80, Phuket 35: Budapest leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Budapest 78, Phuket 72: Budapest leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Budapest 58, Phuket 80: Phuket leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Budapest 68, Phuket 45: Budapest leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Budapest 62, Phuket 65: Phuket leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Budapest 78, Phuket 22: Budapest leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. Budapest 55, Phuket 42: Budapest leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Budapest 62, Phuket 68: Phuket leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Budapest 76, Phuket 20: Budapest leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Budapest 98, Phuket 82: Budapest leads by 16 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Budapest
Best match
67match

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

Phuket
57match

Wins on beaches 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.

Budapest in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
BudapestPhuket

Where the figures come from

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

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Budapest: 1991-2020 normals, Budapest Met Center (2.1 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBudapestPhuket
Official languageHungarianThai
CurrencyForint (HUF)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
Elevation117 m19 m
Main airportBudapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD)18 km from centre157 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBudapestPhuket
City population1,675,77777,610
People per km²3,1916,468
Museums within 10 km812
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Budapest 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.