VacationSelector
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle
Barlas Island in Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa
Puerto PrincesaBarlas Island in Honda Bay

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License; Puerto Princesa by Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Puerto Iguazu or Puerto Princesa?

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 Puerto Iguazu for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Puerto Princesa for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Princesa’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. Puerto Iguazu 5, Puerto Princesa 58: Puerto Princesa leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Iguazu 28, Puerto Princesa 38: Puerto Princesa leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Iguazu 9, Puerto Princesa 22: Puerto Princesa leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Iguazu 14, Puerto Princesa 26: Puerto Princesa leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Iguazu 95, Puerto Princesa 80: Puerto Iguazu leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Puerto Iguazu 33, Puerto Princesa 12: Puerto Iguazu leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Puerto Iguazu 55, Puerto Princesa 45: Puerto Iguazu leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Puerto Iguazu 54, Puerto Princesa 30: Puerto Iguazu leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Iguazu 17, Puerto Princesa 20: Puerto Princesa leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Puerto Iguazu 48, Puerto Princesa 78: Puerto Princesa leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Iguazu 7, Puerto Princesa 10: Puerto Princesa leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Iguazu 34, Puerto Princesa 40: Puerto Princesa leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Iguazu and Puerto Princesa.

Your match

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

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Puerto Princesa
Best match
38match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Puerto Princesa in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
216 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto IguazuPuerto Princesa

Where the figures come from

Puerto Princesa has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre). Puerto Princesa: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasurePuerto IguazuPuerto Princesa
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+8
Emergency number117 or 911911
Elevation162 m98 m
Main airportCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsPuerto Princesa International Airport / PAF Antonio Bautista Air Base (PPS)2 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto IguazuPuerto Princesa
City population54,903316,384
People per km²-133
Museums within 10 km01
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Puerto Iguazu or Puerto Princesa 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.