VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Phuket or Portland?

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

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Portland for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Phuket leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Portland 68: Portland leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Portland 38: Portland leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Portland 52: Phuket leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Portland 84: Portland leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Portland 58: Portland leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Portland 55: Phuket leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Portland 62: Portland leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Portland 52: Portland leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Portland 38: Phuket leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Portland 55: Portland leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Portland 42: Phuket leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Portland.

Your match

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

Phuket
Best match
57match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Portland
52match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts 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
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketPortland

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). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketPortland
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation19 m152 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketPortland
City population77,610652,503
People per km²6,4681,736
Museums within 10 km217
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Phuket or Portland 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. 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.