VacationSelector
A lifeguard stand on South Beach, Miami
MiamiA lifeguard stand on South Beach
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Miami by Radomianin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Miami 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 Miami for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Phuket for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Miami and Phuket are level on 90.
Food & drink. Miami 72, Phuket 66: Miami leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Miami 57, Phuket 35: Miami leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Miami 82, Phuket 72: Miami leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Miami 64, Phuket 80: Phuket leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Miami 42, Phuket 45: Phuket leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Miami 64, Phuket 65: Phuket leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Miami 35, Phuket 22: Miami leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Miami 71, Phuket 42: Miami leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Miami 27, Phuket 68: Phuket leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Miami 55, Phuket 20: Miami leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Miami 44, Phuket 82: Phuket leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Miami and Phuket.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Miami
59match

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

Phuket
57match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Miami in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
186 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Phuket in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
287 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MiamiPhuket

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. Miami: 1991-2020 normals, Miami International Airport (10 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMiamiPhuket
Official language-Thai
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Baht (THB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation2 m19 m
Main airportMiami International Airport (MIA)7 km from centre198 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMiamiPhuket
City population442,24177,610
People per km²3,0466,468
Museums within 10 km172
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 Miami 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). 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. 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.