VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Dubai 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 Dubai for

  • shopping
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Phuket for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Dubai 80, Phuket 90: Phuket leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, Phuket 66: Dubai leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, Phuket 35: Dubai leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, Phuket 72: Phuket leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, Phuket 80: Phuket leads by 55 points.
Day trips. Dubai and Phuket are level on 45.
Good for families. Dubai 82, Phuket 65: Dubai leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Dubai 42, Phuket 22: Dubai leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, Phuket 42: Dubai leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, Phuket 68: Phuket leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai 40, Phuket 20: Dubai leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, Phuket 82: Phuket leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubai and Phuket.

Your match

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

Dubai
54match

Wins on shopping and getting around with your weighting.

Phuket
Best match
57match

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.

Dubai in July

42 °Cdaytime high
33 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Phuket in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
287 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiPhuket

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. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiPhuket
Official languageArabicThai
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Baht (THB)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation0 m19 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiPhuket
City population3,944,75177,610
People per km²-6,468
Museums within 10 km142
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dubai 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). 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.