VacationSelector
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Puerto Plata or Scottsdale?

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 Plata for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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 Plata 80, Scottsdale 8: Puerto Plata leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Plata 40, Scottsdale 46: Scottsdale leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Plata 35, Scottsdale 38: Scottsdale leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Plata 38, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Plata and Scottsdale are level on 68.
Day trips. Puerto Plata 48, Scottsdale 50: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Puerto Plata 57, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Puerto Plata 30, Scottsdale 20: Puerto Plata leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Plata 30, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Puerto Plata 64, Scottsdale 32: Puerto Plata leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Plata 18, Scottsdale 40: Scottsdale leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Plata 35, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 37 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Plata and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Puerto Plata
45match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto PlataScottsdale

Where the figures come from

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. Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePuerto PlataScottsdale
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyDominican Peso (DOP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4UTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation34 m380 m
Main airportGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre149 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto PlataScottsdale
City population-241,361
Museums within 10 km110
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 Puerto Plata or Scottsdale 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). 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. 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.