VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Faro 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 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 Puerto Plata for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Faro 74, Puerto Plata 80: Puerto Plata leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Puerto Plata 40: Faro leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Faro and Puerto Plata are level on 35.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Puerto Plata 38: Puerto Plata leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Puerto Plata 68: Puerto Plata leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Puerto Plata 48: Faro leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Puerto Plata 57: Faro leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Puerto Plata 30: Faro leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Puerto Plata 30: Faro leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Puerto Plata 64: Puerto Plata leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Puerto Plata 18: Faro leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Puerto Plata 35: Puerto Plata leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Faro
Best match
49match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
45match

Wins on beaches 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

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
FaroPuerto Plata

Where the figures come from

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. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroPuerto Plata
Official languagePortugueseSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number112911
Elevation10 m34 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroPuerto Plata
City population64,560-
People per km²319-
Museums within 10 km21
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 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). 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.