VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Phuket or Scottsdale?

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
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Phuket leads by 82 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Scottsdale 46: Phuket leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Scottsdale 38: Scottsdale leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Scottsdale 52: Phuket leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Scottsdale 68: Phuket leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Scottsdale 50: Scottsdale leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Scottsdale 60: Phuket leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Scottsdale 20: Phuket leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Scottsdale 32: Phuket leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Scottsdale 40: Scottsdale leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Scottsdale 72: Phuket leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Scottsdale.

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 prices with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

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
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketScottsdale

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). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketScottsdale
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-7
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation19 m380 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketScottsdale
City population77,610241,361
People per km²6,468-
Museums within 10 km210
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 Scottsdale 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.