VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Phuket or Santa Marta?

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
  • families
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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, Santa Marta 70: Phuket leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Santa Marta 44: Phuket leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Santa Marta 34: Phuket leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Santa Marta 50: Phuket leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Santa Marta 38: Phuket leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Santa Marta 40: Phuket leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Santa Marta 27: Phuket leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Santa Marta 17: Phuket leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Santa Marta 30: Phuket leads by 52 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Phuket
Best match
57match

Wins on wellness and families with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on getting around and prices 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

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketSanta Marta

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). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketSanta Marta
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199123
Elevation19 m8 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketSanta Marta
City population77,610505,915
People per km²6,4681,723
Museums within 10 km23
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Phuket or Santa Marta 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.