VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
Ushuaia below snow-capped mountains, Ushuaia
UshuaiaUshuaia below snow-capped mountains

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Ushuaia by Jan Tang, Pexels License.

Phuket or Ushuaia?

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
  • wellness
  • nightlife

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

Choose Ushuaia for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Ushuaia’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, Ushuaia 3: Phuket leads by 87 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Ushuaia 40: Phuket leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Ushuaia 22: Phuket leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Ushuaia 18: Phuket leads by 54 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Ushuaia 88: Ushuaia leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Ushuaia 14: Phuket leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Ushuaia 40: Phuket leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Ushuaia 45: Ushuaia leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Ushuaia 22: Phuket leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Ushuaia 42: Phuket leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Ushuaia 10: Phuket leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Ushuaia 26: Phuket leads by 56 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Ushuaia.

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 wellness with your weighting.

Ushuaia
31match

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

Ushuaia in July

4 °Cdaytime high
0 °Cnight-time low
36 mmrain in the month
2 hsunshine a day
No seasea
8 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketUshuaia

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). Ushuaia: 1991-2020 normals, Ushuaia Aerodrome (1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketUshuaia
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199117 or 911
Elevation19 m23 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsUshuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH)4 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketUshuaia
City population77,61082,615
People per km²6,4683,592
Museums within 10 km25
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Phuket or Ushuaia 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.