VacationSelector
Fishing boats in the harbour, La Spezia
La SpeziaFishing boats in the harbour
Punta del Este

Photos: La Spezia by Irina Balashova, Pexels License.

La Spezia or Punta del Este?

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 La Spezia for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • prices

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

Choose Punta del Este for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta del Este’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. La Spezia 60, Punta del Este 72: Punta del Este leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. La Spezia 58, Punta del Este 45: La Spezia leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. La Spezia 40, Punta del Este 22: La Spezia leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. La Spezia 28, Punta del Este 60: Punta del Este leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. La Spezia 79, Punta del Este 55: La Spezia leads by 24 points.
Day trips. La Spezia 87, Punta del Este 45: La Spezia leads by 42 points.
Good for families. La Spezia 48, Punta del Este 55: Punta del Este leads by 7 points.
Getting around. La Spezia 70, Punta del Este 35: La Spezia leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. La Spezia 35, Punta del Este 42: Punta del Este leads by 7 points.
Affordability. La Spezia 50, Punta del Este 20: La Spezia leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. La Spezia 28, Punta del Este 22: La Spezia leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. La Spezia and Punta del Este are level on 32.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: La Spezia and Punta del Este.

Your match

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

La Spezia
Best match
51match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Punta del Este
42match

Wins on nightlife 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.

La Spezia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
20 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Punta del Este in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
La SpeziaPunta del Este

Where the figures come from

La Spezia's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Pisa / S. Giusto.

La Spezia 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.

Punta del Este's temperatures are measured 79 km from the centre, at Rocha.

Punta del Este 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. La Spezia: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (64.8 km from centre). Punta del Este: 1991-2020 normals, Rocha (78.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLa SpeziaPunta del Este
Official languageItalian-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m11 m
Main airportPisa International Airport (PSA)65 km from centre82 non-stop destinationsCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureLa SpeziaPunta del Este
City population92,1199,277
People per km²1,792455
Museums within 10 km125
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow La Spezia or Punta del Este 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.