VacationSelector
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach
The lighthouse and the peninsula in evening light, Punta del Este
Punta del EsteThe lighthouse and the peninsula in evening light

Photos: Myrtle Beach by The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Punta del Este by Marcelo Campi, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Myrtle Beach 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 Myrtle Beach for

  • prices
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Punta del Este for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Myrtle Beach 84, Punta del Este 72: Myrtle Beach leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Myrtle Beach 38, Punta del Este 45: Punta del Este leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Myrtle Beach 20, Punta del Este 22: Punta del Este leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Myrtle Beach 42, Punta del Este 60: Punta del Este leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Myrtle Beach 46, Punta del Este 55: Punta del Este leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Myrtle Beach 50, Punta del Este 45: Myrtle Beach leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Myrtle Beach 80, Punta del Este 55: Myrtle Beach leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Myrtle Beach 18, Punta del Este 35: Punta del Este leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Myrtle Beach 38, Punta del Este 42: Punta del Este leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Myrtle Beach 52, Punta del Este 20: Myrtle Beach leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Myrtle Beach 30, Punta del Este 22: Myrtle Beach leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Myrtle Beach 28, Punta del Este 32: Punta del Este leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Myrtle Beach and Punta del Este.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Myrtle Beach
44match

Wins on prices and families with your weighting.

Punta del Este
42match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Myrtle Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
172 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 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
Myrtle BeachPunta del Este

Where the figures come from

Myrtle Beach 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. Myrtle Beach: 1971-2000 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Myrtle Beach Air Force Base (5.5 km from centre). Punta del Este: 1991-2020 normals, Rocha (78.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMyrtle BeachPunta del Este
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number911911
Elevation8 m11 m
Main airportMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureMyrtle BeachPunta del Este
City population35,6829,277
People per km²591455
Museums within 10 km25
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Myrtle Beach 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). 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. 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.