VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Athens 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 Athens for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • wellness

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. Athens 70, Phnom Penh 6: Athens leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Phnom Penh 62: Athens leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Phnom Penh 62: Athens leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Phnom Penh 58: Athens leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Phnom Penh 28: Athens leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Phnom Penh 34: Athens leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Phnom Penh 32: Athens leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Phnom Penh 35: Athens leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Phnom Penh 46: Athens leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Phnom Penh 32: Athens leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices 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.

Athens in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Phnom Penh in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
168 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AthensPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensPhnom Penh
Official languageGreekKhmer
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation74 m11 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensPhnom Penh
City population643,4522,129,371
People per km²16,4993,138
Museums within 10 km883
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Athens 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.