VacationSelector
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Interlaken 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 Interlaken for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Puerto Plata for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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. Interlaken 30, Puerto Plata 80: Puerto Plata leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Interlaken 25, Puerto Plata 40: Puerto Plata leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Interlaken 8, Puerto Plata 35: Puerto Plata leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Interlaken 15, Puerto Plata 38: Puerto Plata leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Interlaken 97, Puerto Plata 68: Interlaken leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Interlaken 78, Puerto Plata 48: Interlaken leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Interlaken 72, Puerto Plata 57: Interlaken leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Interlaken 80, Puerto Plata 30: Interlaken leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Interlaken 22, Puerto Plata 30: Puerto Plata leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Interlaken 8, Puerto Plata 64: Puerto Plata leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Interlaken 15, Puerto Plata 18: Puerto Plata leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Interlaken 40, Puerto Plata 35: Interlaken leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Interlaken and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Interlaken
41match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
Best match
45match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 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
InterlakenPuerto Plata

Where the figures come from

Interlaken 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.

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. Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureInterlakenPuerto Plata
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshSpanish
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number112911
Elevation571 m34 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureInterlakenPuerto Plata
City population6,123-
People per km²1,424-
Museums within 10 km31
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Interlaken 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.