VacationSelector
Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom, Orlando
OrlandoCinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Orlando by Michael Gray, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Orlando 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 Orlando for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Phuket for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • 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. Orlando 42, Phuket 90: Phuket leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Orlando 48, Phuket 66: Phuket leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Orlando 22, Phuket 35: Phuket leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Orlando 40, Phuket 72: Phuket leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Orlando 46, Phuket 80: Phuket leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Orlando 58, Phuket 45: Orlando leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Orlando 98, Phuket 65: Orlando leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Orlando 8, Phuket 22: Phuket leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Orlando 58, Phuket 42: Orlando leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Orlando 36, Phuket 68: Phuket leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Orlando 40, Phuket 20: Orlando leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Orlando 32, Phuket 82: Phuket leads by 50 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Orlando and Phuket.

Your match

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

Orlando
44match

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

Phuket
Best match
57match

Wins on wellness 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.

Orlando in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
No seasea
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
OrlandoPhuket

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. Orlando: 1991-2020 normals, Orlando Airport (14.2 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOrlandoPhuket
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
Elevation34 m19 m
Main airportOrlando International Airport (MCO)14 km from centre169 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureOrlandoPhuket
City population334,85477,610
People per km²1,0866,468
Museums within 10 km112
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 Orlando 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.