VacationSelector
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill
Palms on a white beach at Cap Cana, Punta Cana
Punta CanaPalms on a white beach at Cap Cana

Photos: Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License; Punta Cana by Mary Mark Ockerbloom, CC0.

Philadelphia or Punta Cana?

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

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

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

Choose Punta Cana for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta Cana’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, Punta Cana 94: Punta Cana leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Philadelphia 62, Punta Cana 30: Philadelphia leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Philadelphia 72, Punta Cana 8: Philadelphia leads by 64 points.
Nightlife. Philadelphia 55, Punta Cana 40: Philadelphia leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Philadelphia and Punta Cana are level on 52.
Day trips. Philadelphia 80, Punta Cana 35: Philadelphia leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Philadelphia and Punta Cana are level on 68.
Getting around. Philadelphia 66, Punta Cana 15: Philadelphia leads by 51 points.
Shopping & style. Philadelphia 57, Punta Cana 30: Philadelphia leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Philadelphia 40, Punta Cana 44: Punta Cana leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Philadelphia 72, Punta Cana 15: Philadelphia leads by 57 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Philadelphia 26, Punta Cana 52: Punta Cana leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Philadelphia and Punta Cana.

Your match

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

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

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

Punta Cana
40match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Punta Cana in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
96 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
PhiladelphiaPunta Cana

Where the figures come from

Punta Cana 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). Punta Cana: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Punta Cana (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhiladelphiaPunta Cana
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 m28 m
Main airportPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinationsPunta Cana International Airport (PUJ)1 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhiladelphiaPunta Cana
City population1,603,797138,919
People per km²4,339292
Museums within 10 km540
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 Punta Cana 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.