VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Phnom Penh?

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 Arequipa for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • nightlife
  • wellness
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Phnom Penh’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. Arequipa 8, Phnom Penh 6: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Phnom Penh 62: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Phnom Penh 62: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Phnom Penh 58: Phnom Penh leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Phnom Penh 28: Arequipa leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Phnom Penh 34: Phnom Penh leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Phnom Penh 32: Arequipa leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Phnom Penh 35: Arequipa leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Phnom Penh 46: Phnom Penh leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Phnom Penh 32: Phnom Penh leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Arequipa
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Arequipa in July

21 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

Phnom Penh in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
168 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaPhnom Penh

Where the figures come from

Arequipa's station stands 203 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Arequipa: 1991-2020 normals, Arequipa (9.2 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaPhnom Penh
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaKhmer
CurrencySol (PEN)Riel (KHR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number111 or 911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation2,335 m11 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaPhnom Penh
City population1,008,2902,129,371
People per km²1,5513,138
Museums within 10 km33
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Phnom Penh 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. 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.