VacationSelector
The Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta
JakartaThe Istiqlal Mosque
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Jakarta by Antonyus Bunjamin, Pexels License; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Jakarta 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 Jakarta for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Phuket for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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. Jakarta 28, Phuket 90: Phuket leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Jakarta 78, Phuket 66: Jakarta leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Jakarta 48, Phuket 35: Jakarta leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Jakarta 66, Phuket 72: Phuket leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jakarta 30, Phuket 80: Phuket leads by 50 points.
Day trips. Jakarta and Phuket are level on 45.
Good for families. Jakarta 50, Phuket 65: Phuket leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Jakarta 36, Phuket 22: Jakarta leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Jakarta 64, Phuket 42: Jakarta leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Jakarta 80, Phuket 68: Jakarta leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jakarta 42, Phuket 20: Jakarta leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jakarta 46, Phuket 82: Phuket leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jakarta and Phuket.

Your match

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

Jakarta
51match

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

Phuket
Best match
57match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Jakarta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
12 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
JakartaPhuket

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. Jakarta: 1991-2020 normals, Jakarta / Observatory (1.1 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJakartaPhuket
Official languageIndonesianThai
CurrencyRupiah (IDR)Baht (THB)
SocketsCF50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation91 m19 m
Main airportSoekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK)20 km from centre89 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureJakartaPhuket
City population11,135,19177,610
People per km²16,8216,468
Museums within 10 km442
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 Jakarta 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). 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.