VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Phuket or Valencia?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Valencia for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Phuket leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Valencia 74: Valencia leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Valencia 68: Valencia leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Valencia 66: Phuket leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Valencia 60: Phuket leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Valencia 70: Valencia leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Valencia 75: Valencia leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Valencia 76: Valencia leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Valencia 57: Phuket leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Valencia 55: Valencia leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Valencia 42: Phuket leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Valencia.

Your match

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

Phuket
57match

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

Valencia
Best match
65match

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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketValencia

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). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketValencia
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation19 m15 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketValencia
City population77,610840,792
People per km²6,4686,242
Museums within 10 km245
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Valencia 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.