VacationSelector
Vine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley, Mendoza
MendozaVine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Mendoza by David, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Mendoza 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 Mendoza for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Phuket for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • 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. Mendoza 6, Phuket 90: Phuket leads by 84 points.
Food & drink. Mendoza 68, Phuket 66: Mendoza leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Mendoza 30, Phuket 35: Phuket leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Mendoza 40, Phuket 72: Phuket leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mendoza 83, Phuket 80: Mendoza leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Mendoza 52, Phuket 45: Mendoza leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Mendoza 42, Phuket 65: Phuket leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Mendoza 48, Phuket 22: Mendoza leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Mendoza 33, Phuket 42: Phuket leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Mendoza 56, Phuket 68: Phuket leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mendoza 33, Phuket 20: Mendoza leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mendoza 55, Phuket 82: Phuket leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mendoza and Phuket.

Your match

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

Mendoza
46match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Phuket
Best match
57match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Mendoza in July

15 °Cdaytime high
2 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 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
MendozaPhuket

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. Mendoza: 1991-2020 normals, Mendoza Aerodrome (8.5 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMendozaPhuket
Official languageSpanishThai
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Baht (THB)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+7
Emergency number117 or 911Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation769 m19 m
Main airportGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ)8 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMendozaPhuket
City population127,16077,610
People per km²2,3556,468
Museums within 10 km12
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Mendoza 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. 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.