VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Phuket or Sydney?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nightlife

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

Choose Sydney for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Sydney 60: Phuket leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Sydney 50: Sydney leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 53 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Sydney 22: Phuket leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Sydney 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 Sydney.

Your match

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

Phuket
57match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Sydney
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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketSydney

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). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketSydney
Official languageThaiEnglish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199000
Elevation19 m6 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketSydney
City population77,6105,450,496
People per km²6,468449
Museums within 10 km238
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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