VacationSelector
Punta del Este
Ushuaia below snow-capped mountains, Ushuaia
UshuaiaUshuaia below snow-capped mountains

Photos: Ushuaia by Jan Tang, Pexels License.

Punta del Este or Ushuaia?

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 Punta del Este for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta del Este’s own page.

Choose Ushuaia for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Ushuaia’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. Punta del Este 72, Ushuaia 3: Punta del Este leads by 69 points.
Food & drink. Punta del Este 45, Ushuaia 40: Punta del Este leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Punta del Este and Ushuaia are level on 22.
Nightlife. Punta del Este 60, Ushuaia 18: Punta del Este leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Punta del Este 55, Ushuaia 88: Ushuaia leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Punta del Este 45, Ushuaia 14: Punta del Este leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Punta del Este 55, Ushuaia 40: Punta del Este leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Punta del Este 35, Ushuaia 45: Ushuaia leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Punta del Este 42, Ushuaia 22: Punta del Este leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Punta del Este 20, Ushuaia 42: Ushuaia leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Punta del Este 22, Ushuaia 10: Punta del Este leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Punta del Este 32, Ushuaia 26: Punta del Este leads by 6 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Punta del Este and Ushuaia.

Your match

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

Punta del Este
Best match
42match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Ushuaia
31match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Punta del Este in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Ushuaia in July

4 °Cdaytime high
0 °Cnight-time low
36 mmrain in the month
2 hsunshine a day
No seasea
8 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Punta del EsteUshuaia

Where the figures come from

Punta del Este's temperatures are measured 79 km from the centre, at Rocha.

Punta del Este 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. Punta del Este: 1991-2020 normals, Rocha (78.5 km from centre). Ushuaia: 1991-2020 normals, Ushuaia Aerodrome (1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePunta del EsteUshuaia
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyPeso Uruguayo (UYU)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsCFIL230 V, 50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-3
Emergency number911117 or 911
Elevation11 m23 m
Main airportCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsUshuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH)4 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePunta del EsteUshuaia
City population9,27782,615
People per km²4553,592
Museums within 10 km55
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Punta del Este or Ushuaia 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.