VacationSelector
The Flame Towers from the seafront, Baku
BakuThe Flame Towers from the seafront
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Baku by Zulfugar Karimov, Pexels License; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Baku 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 Baku for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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. Baku 40, Siem Reap 5: Baku leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Baku 60, Siem Reap 45: Baku leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Baku 62, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Baku and Siem Reap are level on 42.
Nature & outdoors. Baku 30, Siem Reap 40: Siem Reap leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Baku 45, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Baku 45, Siem Reap 35: Baku leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Baku 58, Siem Reap 30: Baku leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Baku 48, Siem Reap 38: Baku leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Baku 64, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Baku 52, Siem Reap 32: Baku leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Baku 30, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Baku and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Baku
48match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on wellness 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.

Baku in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BakuSiem 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. Baku: 1991-2020 normals, Mashtaga (23.2 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureBakuSiem Reap
Official languageAzerbaijani, Azerbaijani Sign LanguageKhmer
CurrencyAzerbaijan Manat (AZN)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+7
Emergency number102 or 112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation-28 m18 m
Main airportHeydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD)22 km from centre79 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-21 days

By the numbers

MeasureBakuSiem Reap
City population2,300,500147,866
People per km²1,075-
Museums within 10 km506
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Baku 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.