VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The cathedral and the Leaning Tower, Pisa
PisaThe cathedral and the Leaning Tower

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Pisa by Bruno Kraler, Pexels License.

Phuket or Pisa?

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 Phuket for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Pisa for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Pisa’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. Phuket 90, Pisa 58: Phuket leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Pisa 55: Phuket leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Pisa 68: Pisa leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Pisa 40: Phuket leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Pisa 62: Phuket leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Pisa 92: Pisa leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Pisa 52: Phuket leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Pisa 76: Pisa leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Pisa 38: Phuket leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Pisa 55: Phuket leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Pisa 38: Pisa leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Pisa 45: Phuket leads by 37 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Phuket
57match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Pisa
57match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Phuket in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
287 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Pisa in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketPisa

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. Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre). Pisa: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketPisa
Official languageThaiItalian
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation19 m4 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsPisa International Airport (PSA)4 km from centre82 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketPisa
City population77,61088,737
People per km²6,468479
Museums within 10 km227
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Phuket or Pisa 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.