VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Phuket for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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. Faro 74, Phuket 90: Phuket leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Phuket 66: Phuket leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Faro and Phuket are level on 35.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Phuket 72: Phuket leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Phuket 80: Phuket leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Phuket 45: Faro leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Phuket 65: Phuket leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Phuket 22: Faro leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Phuket 42: Phuket leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Phuket 68: Phuket leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Phuket 20: Faro leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Phuket 82: Phuket leads by 49 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and Phuket.

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Phuket
Best match
57match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 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
FaroPhuket

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. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroPhuket
Official languagePortugueseThai
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Baht (THB)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation10 m19 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFaroPhuket
City population64,56077,610
People per km²3196,468
Museums within 10 km22
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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