VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Barcelona 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 Barcelona for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Barcelona’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. Barcelona 75, Phnom Penh 6: Barcelona leads by 69 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Phnom Penh 62: Barcelona leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Phnom Penh 62: Barcelona leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Phnom Penh 58: Barcelona leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Phnom Penh 28: Barcelona leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Phnom Penh 34: Barcelona leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Phnom Penh 32: Barcelona leads by 44 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Phnom Penh 35: Barcelona leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Phnom Penh 46: Barcelona leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Phnom Penh 32: Barcelona leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

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.

Barcelona in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °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
BarcelonaPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaPhnom Penh
Official languageSpanishKhmer
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation9 m11 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaPhnom Penh
City population1,731,6492,129,371
People per km²17,0943,138
Museums within 10 km953
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona 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.