VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Phuket or Shanghai?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Shanghai’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, Shanghai 10: Phuket leads by 80 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Shanghai 25: Phuket leads by 55 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 63 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Shanghai 55: Phuket leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Shanghai 55: Phuket leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Phuket
57match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts 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

Shanghai in July

33 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
151 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketShanghai

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). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketShanghai
Official languageThaiPutonghua
CurrencyBaht (THB)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation19 m4 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketShanghai
City population77,61024,870,895
People per km²6,4683,922
Museums within 10 km245
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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