VacationSelector
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Philadelphia or Puerto Plata?

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 Philadelphia for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Puerto Plata for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Plata’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. Philadelphia 36, Puerto Plata 80: Puerto Plata leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Philadelphia 62, Puerto Plata 40: Philadelphia leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Philadelphia 72, Puerto Plata 35: Philadelphia leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Philadelphia 55, Puerto Plata 38: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Philadelphia 52, Puerto Plata 68: Puerto Plata leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Philadelphia 80, Puerto Plata 48: Philadelphia leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Philadelphia 68, Puerto Plata 57: Philadelphia leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Philadelphia 66, Puerto Plata 30: Philadelphia leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Philadelphia 57, Puerto Plata 30: Philadelphia leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Philadelphia 40, Puerto Plata 64: Puerto Plata leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Philadelphia 72, Puerto Plata 18: Philadelphia leads by 54 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Philadelphia 26, Puerto Plata 35: Puerto Plata leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Philadelphia and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
45match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
PhiladelphiaPuerto Plata

Where the figures come from

Puerto Plata 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. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhiladelphiaPuerto Plata
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m34 m
Main airportPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhiladelphiaPuerto Plata
City population1,603,797-
People per km²4,339-
Museums within 10 km541
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Philadelphia or Puerto Plata 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.