VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose Puerto Plata for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Fort Lauderdale 88, Puerto Plata 80: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Puerto Plata 40: Fort Lauderdale leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Puerto Plata 35: Puerto Plata leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, Puerto Plata 38: Fort Lauderdale leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Puerto Plata 68: Puerto Plata leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, Puerto Plata 48: Fort Lauderdale leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, Puerto Plata 57: Fort Lauderdale leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, Puerto Plata 30: Fort Lauderdale leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, Puerto Plata 30: Fort Lauderdale leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Puerto Plata 64: Puerto Plata leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Puerto Plata 18: Fort Lauderdale leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, Puerto Plata 35: Fort Lauderdale leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Fort Lauderdale
Best match
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
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.

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
29 °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
Fort LauderdalePuerto 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. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdalePuerto 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
Elevation11 m34 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre138 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdalePuerto Plata
City population182,760-
People per km²1,829-
Museums within 10 km61
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 Fort Lauderdale 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.