VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Phuket or Seattle?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Phuket leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Phuket and Seattle are level on 66.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Seattle 50: Seattle leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Seattle 55: Phuket leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Seattle 64: Phuket leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Seattle 22: Phuket leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 50 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Seattle 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 Seattle.

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.

Seattle
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketSeattle

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). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketSeattle
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation19 m40 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketSeattle
City population77,610737,015
People per km²6,4681,996
Museums within 10 km227
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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