VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Hurghada 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 Hurghada for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Puerto Plata for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • getting around

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. Hurghada 84, Puerto Plata 80: Hurghada leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, Puerto Plata 40: Puerto Plata leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, Puerto Plata 35: Puerto Plata leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada 40, Puerto Plata 38: Hurghada leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada 72, Puerto Plata 68: Hurghada leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, Puerto Plata 48: Puerto Plata leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, Puerto Plata 57: Hurghada leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, Puerto Plata 30: Puerto Plata leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, Puerto Plata 30: Puerto Plata leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, Puerto Plata 64: Hurghada leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, Puerto Plata 18: Puerto Plata leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 44, Puerto Plata 35: Hurghada leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hurghada and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Hurghada
43match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
45match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °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
HurghadaPuerto 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. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaPuerto Plata
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-4
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation11 m34 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaPuerto Plata
City population214,247-
Museums within 10 km11
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 Hurghada 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). 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.