VacationSelector
Barlas Island in Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa
Puerto PrincesaBarlas Island in Honda Bay
El Castillo above the beach at Tulum, Tulum
TulumEl Castillo above the beach at Tulum

Photos: Puerto Princesa by Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Tulum by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Puerto Princesa or Tulum?

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 Princesa for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Tulum for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Tulum’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 Princesa 58, Tulum 88: Tulum leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Princesa 38, Tulum 52: Tulum leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Princesa 22, Tulum 30: Tulum leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Princesa 26, Tulum 60: Tulum leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Princesa 80, Tulum 76: Puerto Princesa leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Puerto Princesa 12, Tulum 68: Tulum leads by 56 points.
Good for families. Puerto Princesa 45, Tulum 60: Tulum leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Puerto Princesa 30, Tulum 25: Puerto Princesa leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Princesa 20, Tulum 35: Tulum leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Puerto Princesa 78, Tulum 30: Puerto Princesa leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Princesa 10, Tulum 15: Tulum leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Princesa 40, Tulum 85: Tulum leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Princesa and Tulum.

Your match

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

Puerto Princesa
38match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Tulum
Best match
52match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Puerto Princesa in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
216 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Tulum in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
116 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto PrincesaTulum

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.

Tulum 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 Princesa: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Tulum: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasurePuerto PrincesaTulum
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5
Emergency number911911
Elevation98 m5 m
Main airportPuerto Princesa International Airport / PAF Antonio Bautista Air Base (PPS)2 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsFelipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport Tulum (TQO)21 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto PrincesaTulum
City population316,38433,374
People per km²133-
Museums within 10 km10
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. 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.