VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
Punta del Este

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License.

Faro or Punta del Este?

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

  • prices
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Punta del Este for

  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta del Este’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, Punta del Este 72: Faro leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Punta del Este 45: Faro leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Punta del Este 22: Faro leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Punta del Este 60: Punta del Este leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Punta del Este 55: Faro leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Punta del Este 45: Faro leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Punta del Este 55: Faro leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Punta del Este 35: Faro leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Punta del Este 42: Punta del Este leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Punta del Este 20: Faro leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Punta del Este 22: Faro leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Punta del Este 32: Faro leads by 1 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and Punta del Este.

Your match

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

Faro
Best match
49match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Punta del Este
42match

Wins on nightlife and shopping 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

Punta del Este in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
FaroPunta del Este

Where the figures come from

Punta del Este's temperatures are measured 79 km from the centre, at Rocha.

Punta del Este 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). Punta del Este: 1991-2020 normals, Rocha (78.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroPunta del Este
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112911
Elevation10 m11 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroPunta del Este
City population64,5609,277
People per km²319455
Museums within 10 km25
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro or Punta del Este 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.