VacationSelector
The lighthouse and the peninsula in evening light, Punta del Este
Punta del EsteThe lighthouse and the peninsula in evening light
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Punta del Este by Marcelo Campi, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Punta del Este or Wilmington?

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

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • getting around

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Punta del Este 45, Wilmington 48: Wilmington leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Punta del Este 22, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Punta del Este 60, Wilmington 40: Punta del Este leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Punta del Este 55, Wilmington 58: Wilmington leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Punta del Este and Wilmington are level on 45.
Good for families. Punta del Este 55, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Punta del Este 35, Wilmington 28: Punta del Este leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Punta del Este 42, Wilmington 33: Punta del Este leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Punta del Este 20, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Punta del Este 22, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Punta del Este 32, Wilmington 33: Wilmington leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Punta del Este and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Punta del Este
42match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Wilmington
Best match
45match

Wins on prices and culture and sights 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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Punta del EsteWilmington

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). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePunta del EsteWilmington
CurrencyPeso Uruguayo (UYU)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCFIL230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m9 m
Main airportCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePunta del EsteWilmington
City population9,277115,451
People per km²455839
Museums within 10 km52
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Punta del Este or Wilmington 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.