VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Phuket or Thessaloniki?

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

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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, Thessaloniki 55: Phuket leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Thessaloniki 66: Phuket leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Thessaloniki 74: Thessaloniki leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Thessaloniki 50: Phuket leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Thessaloniki 60: Thessaloniki leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Thessaloniki 66: Phuket leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Thessaloniki 52: Thessaloniki leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Thessaloniki 33: Phuket leads by 49 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Thessaloniki.

Your match

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

Phuket
57match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

Wins on culture and sights 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
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketThessaloniki

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). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketThessaloniki
Official languageThaiGreek
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation19 m6 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketThessaloniki
City population77,610309,617
People per km²6,46816,042
Museums within 10 km232
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Thessaloniki 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.