VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Phuket or Seoul?

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 Seoul for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Phuket leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Seoul 75: Phuket leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 65 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Seoul 50: Phuket leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Seoul 63: Seoul leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Seoul 75: Phuket leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Seoul.

Your match

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

Phuket
57match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around 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

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketSeoul

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). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketSeoul
Official languageThaiKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyBaht (THB)Won (KRW)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation19 m38 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-18 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketSeoul
City population77,6109,668,465
People per km²6,46815,973
Museums within 10 km281
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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