VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Honolulu 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 Honolulu for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Phuket for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nightlife

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. Honolulu 91, Phuket 90: Honolulu leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Phuket 66: Honolulu leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Phuket 35: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Phuket 72: Phuket leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Phuket 80: Honolulu leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Phuket 45: Phuket leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Phuket 65: Honolulu leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Phuket 22: Honolulu leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Phuket 42: Honolulu leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Phuket 68: Phuket leads by 53 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Phuket 20: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Phuket 82: Phuket leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu and Phuket.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Honolulu
57match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Phuket
57match

Wins on prices 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.

Honolulu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
26 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Phuket in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
287 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluPhuket

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. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluPhuket
Official language-Thai
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Baht (THB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-10UTC+7
Emergency number911Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation12 m19 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluPhuket
City population350,96477,610
People per km²1,9816,468
Museums within 10 km122
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 Honolulu 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.