VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Phuket or Sao Paulo?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: Phuket leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Sao Paulo 60: Sao Paulo leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Sao Paulo 48: Phuket leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Sao Paulo 47: Sao Paulo leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Sao Paulo 52: Phuket leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Sao Paulo 44: Sao Paulo leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Sao Paulo 62: Phuket leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Sao Paulo 25: Phuket leads by 57 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Phuket
57match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketSao Paulo

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). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketSao Paulo
Official languageThaiPortuguese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation19 m760 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketSao Paulo
City population77,61011,451,999
People per km²6,4687,519
Museums within 10 km290
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 Sao Paulo 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.