VacationSelector
Cocoa Beach Pier behind yellow parasols, Cocoa Beach
Cocoa BeachCocoa Beach Pier behind yellow parasols
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Cocoa Beach by Benoît Prieur, CC0; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Cocoa Beach 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 Cocoa Beach for

  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Puerto Plata for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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. Cocoa Beach and Puerto Plata are level on 80.
Food & drink. Cocoa Beach 32, Puerto Plata 40: Puerto Plata leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Cocoa Beach 12, Puerto Plata 35: Puerto Plata leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Cocoa Beach 27, Puerto Plata 38: Puerto Plata leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cocoa Beach 62, Puerto Plata 68: Puerto Plata leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Cocoa Beach 52, Puerto Plata 48: Cocoa Beach leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Cocoa Beach 72, Puerto Plata 57: Cocoa Beach leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Cocoa Beach 22, Puerto Plata 30: Puerto Plata leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Cocoa Beach 20, Puerto Plata 30: Puerto Plata leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cocoa Beach 40, Puerto Plata 64: Puerto Plata leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cocoa Beach 14, Puerto Plata 18: Puerto Plata leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cocoa Beach 30, Puerto Plata 35: Puerto Plata leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cocoa Beach and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Cocoa Beach
39match

Wins on families and day trips with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
Best match
45match

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.

Cocoa Beach in July

30 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
147 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Cocoa BeachPuerto Plata

Where the figures come from

Cocoa Beach 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.

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. Cocoa Beach: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Cocoa / Patrick Air Force Base (11.2 km from centre). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCocoa BeachPuerto Plata
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number911911
Elevation0 m34 m
Main airportOrlando International Airport (MCO)68 km from centre170 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCocoa BeachPuerto Plata
City population11,354-
People per km²290-
Museums within 10 km31
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cocoa Beach 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). 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.