VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

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

Phuket or Vancouver?

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 Vancouver for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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, Vancouver 42: Phuket leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Vancouver 42: Phuket leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Phuket and Vancouver are level on 45.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Vancouver 73: Vancouver leads by 51 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Vancouver 55: Vancouver leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Vancouver 27: Phuket leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Vancouver 52: Vancouver leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Vancouver 50: Phuket leads by 32 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Phuket
57match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Vancouver
56match

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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketVancouver

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). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketVancouver
Official languageThaiFrench, English
CurrencyBaht (THB)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation19 m2 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketVancouver
City population77,610662,248
People per km²6,4685,759
Museums within 10 km226
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 Vancouver 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.