VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License.

Phuket or Puerto Iguazu?

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
  • nightlife
  • wellness

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

Choose Puerto Iguazu for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Iguazu’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, Puerto Iguazu 5: Phuket leads by 85 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Puerto Iguazu 28: Phuket leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Puerto Iguazu 9: Phuket leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Puerto Iguazu 14: Phuket leads by 58 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Puerto Iguazu 95: Puerto Iguazu leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Puerto Iguazu 33: Phuket leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Puerto Iguazu 55: Phuket leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Puerto Iguazu 54: Puerto Iguazu leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Puerto Iguazu 17: Phuket leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Puerto Iguazu 48: Phuket leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Puerto Iguazu 7: Phuket leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Puerto Iguazu 34: Phuket leads by 48 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Puerto Iguazu.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketPuerto Iguazu

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). Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketPuerto Iguazu
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199117 or 911
Elevation19 m162 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketPuerto Iguazu
City population77,61054,903
People per km²6,468-
Museums within 10 km20
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Puerto Iguazu 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.