VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Phuket or Rome?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Phuket leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Rome 82: Rome leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Rome 99: Rome leads by 64 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Rome 58: Phuket leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Rome 58: Phuket leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Rome 92: Rome leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Rome 50: Phuket leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Rome 60: Rome leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Rome 72: Rome leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Rome 38: Phuket leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Rome 68: Rome leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Rome 40: Phuket leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Rome.

Your match

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

Phuket
57match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights 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
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketRome

Where the figures come from

Phuket's temperatures are measured 27 km from the centre, at Phuket Airport.

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

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). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketRome
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 m21 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketRome
City population77,6102,748,109
People per km²6,4682,135
Museums within 10 km2178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km07
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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