VacationSelector
Banff Avenue below Cascade Mountain, Banff
BanffBanff Avenue below Cascade Mountain
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Banff by bryan pascual, Pexels License; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Banff 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 Banff for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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. Banff 12, Siem Reap 5: Banff leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Banff 32, Siem Reap 45: Siem Reap leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Banff 22, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 66 points.
Nightlife. Banff 30, Siem Reap 42: Siem Reap leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Banff 98, Siem Reap 40: Banff leads by 58 points.
Day trips. Banff 25, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Banff 60, Siem Reap 35: Banff leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Banff 55, Siem Reap 30: Banff leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Banff 28, Siem Reap 38: Siem Reap leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Banff 18, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 70 points.
Live music & performing arts. Banff and Siem Reap are level on 32.
Wellness & relaxation. Banff 54, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Banff and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Banff
39match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

Siem Reap
Best match
47match

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.

Banff in July

23 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
16 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BanffSiem 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. Banff: 1991-2020 normals, Banff (2 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureBanffSiem Reap
Official languageFrench, EnglishKhmer
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation1,400 m18 m
Main airportCalgary International Airport (YYC)109 km from centre103 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureBanffSiem Reap
City population8,305147,866
People per km²1,730-
Museums within 10 km46
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Banff 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.