VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Fukuoka 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 Fukuoka for

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

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

Choose Phuket for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Fukuoka 50, Phuket 90: Phuket leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Phuket 66: Fukuoka leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Phuket 35: Fukuoka leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Phuket 72: Phuket leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Phuket 80: Phuket leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Phuket 45: Fukuoka leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Phuket 65: Fukuoka leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Phuket 22: Fukuoka leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Phuket 42: Fukuoka leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Phuket 68: Phuket leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Phuket 20: Fukuoka leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Phuket 82: Phuket leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Phuket.

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Phuket
57match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °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
FukuokaPhuket

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. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaPhuket
Official languageJapaneseThai
CurrencyYen (JPY)Baht (THB)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation8 m19 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaPhuket
City population1,603,04377,610
People per km²4,7156,468
Museums within 10 km232
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fukuoka 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). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.