VacationSelector
The Sanctuary of Truth by the sea, Pattaya
PattayaThe Sanctuary of Truth by the sea
Rice terraces and palms at Tegallalang, Ubud
UbudRice terraces and palms at Tegallalang

Photos: Pattaya by Matrix, Pexels License; Ubud by Pinterpandai, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Pattaya or Ubud?

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 Pattaya for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • getting around

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

Choose Ubud for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Ubud’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. Pattaya 66, Ubud 38: Pattaya leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Pattaya 58, Ubud 60: Ubud leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Pattaya 30, Ubud 58: Ubud leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Pattaya 76, Ubud 15: Pattaya leads by 61 points.
Nature & outdoors. Pattaya 40, Ubud 80: Ubud leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Pattaya 52, Ubud 72: Ubud leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Pattaya 55, Ubud 48: Pattaya leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Pattaya 36, Ubud 10: Pattaya leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Pattaya 42, Ubud 52: Ubud leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Pattaya 84, Ubud 80: Pattaya leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Pattaya 30, Ubud 47: Ubud leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Pattaya 58, Ubud 96: Ubud leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Pattaya and Ubud.

Your match

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

Pattaya
52match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Ubud
Best match
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Pattaya in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Ubud in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
110 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
PattayaUbud

Where the figures come from

Pattaya's temperatures are measured 31 km from the centre, at Sattahip.

Pattaya 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.

Pattaya's sunshine is measured 86 km from the centre, at Bangna Agromet / Ban Khlong Samrong.

Ubud's temperatures are measured 29 km from the centre, at Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai.

Ubud's station stands 209 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Ubud 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. Pattaya: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1961-1990, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sattahip (31.2 km from centre). Ubud: 1991-2020 normals, Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai (29 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePattayaUbud
Official languageThaiIndonesian
CurrencyBaht (THB)Rupiah (IDR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation35 m210 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)83 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsDenpasar I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)29 km from centre64 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasurePattayaUbud
City population119,532-
Museums within 10 km014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Pattaya or Ubud somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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.