VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Phuket or Tromso?

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 Tromso for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Phuket leads by 82 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Tromso 36: Phuket leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Tromso 27: Phuket leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Tromso 38: Phuket leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Tromso 14: Phuket leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Tromso 45: Phuket leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Tromso 60: Tromso leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Tromso 15: Phuket leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Tromso 11: Phuket leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Tromso 32: Tromso leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Tromso 38: Phuket leads by 44 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Tromso.

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.

Tromso
35match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketTromso

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). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketTromso
Official languageThaiNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyBaht (THB)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation19 m20 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketTromso
City population77,61079,943
People per km²6,46832
Museums within 10 km28
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 Tromso 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.