VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Phuket or Valletta?

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
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Valletta for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Phuket leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Valletta 55: Phuket leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Valletta 46: Phuket leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Valletta 56: Phuket leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Valletta 58: Phuket leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Valletta 38: Phuket leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Valletta 50: Phuket leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Valletta 32: Phuket leads by 50 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Valletta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Phuket
57match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketValletta

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). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketValletta
Official languageThaiEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation19 m56 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketValletta
City population77,6105,197
People per km²6,4686,496
Museums within 10 km216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
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 Valletta 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.