VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Athens or Siem Reap?

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
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Siem Reap’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, Siem Reap 5: Athens leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Siem Reap 45: Athens leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Athens and Siem Reap are level on 88.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Siem Reap 42: Athens leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Siem Reap 40: Athens leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Siem Reap 55: Athens leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Siem Reap 35: Athens leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Siem Reap 30: Athens leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Siem Reap 38: Athens leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Siem Reap 32: Athens leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Siem Reap.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

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

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AthensSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Siem Reap 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. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAthensSiem Reap
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 m18 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensSiem Reap
City population643,452147,866
People per km²16,499-
Museums within 10 km886
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 Siem Reap 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.