VacationSelector
The coloured houses stepping down to the sea, Positano
PositanoThe coloured houses stepping down to the sea
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Positano by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Positano or Puerto Plata?

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 Positano for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Puerto Plata for

  • prices
  • families
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Plata’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. Positano 77, Puerto Plata 80: Puerto Plata leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Positano and Puerto Plata are level on 40.
Culture & sights. Positano 22, Puerto Plata 35: Puerto Plata leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Positano 22, Puerto Plata 38: Puerto Plata leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Positano 80, Puerto Plata 68: Positano leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Positano 88, Puerto Plata 48: Positano leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Positano 28, Puerto Plata 57: Puerto Plata leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Positano 35, Puerto Plata 30: Positano leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Positano 45, Puerto Plata 30: Positano leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Positano 10, Puerto Plata 64: Puerto Plata leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Positano 15, Puerto Plata 18: Puerto Plata leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Positano 45, Puerto Plata 35: Positano leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Positano and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Positano
42match

Wins on day trips and shopping with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
Best match
45match

Wins on prices and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Positano in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
PositanoPuerto Plata

Where the figures come from

Positano's temperatures are measured 25 km from the centre, at Capri.

Positano has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Positano's sunshine is measured 59 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Puerto Plata has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Positano: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (25.3 km from centre). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePositanoPuerto Plata
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number112911
Elevation142 m34 m
Main airportNaples International Airport (NAP)33 km from centre131 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePositanoPuerto Plata
City population3,729-
People per km²429-
Museums within 10 km101
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Positano or Puerto Plata somewhere new.

Browse every destination

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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.