VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Phuket or Zurich?

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

  • prices
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Phuket leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, Zurich 53: Phuket leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Zurich 62: Phuket leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket and Zurich are level on 80.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 73 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Zurich 3: Phuket leads by 65 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 50 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Zurich 58: Phuket leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Zurich.

Your match

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

Phuket
57match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketZurich

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). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketZurich
Official languageThaiFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyBaht (THB)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation19 m408 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketZurich
City population77,610440,935
People per km²6,4685,016
Museums within 10 km263
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Zurich 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.