VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Beijing 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 Beijing for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices

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. Beijing and Phnom Penh are level on 6.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Phnom Penh 62: Beijing leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Phnom Penh 62: Beijing leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Beijing and Phnom Penh are level on 58.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Phnom Penh 28: Beijing leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Phnom Penh 34: Beijing leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Phnom Penh 32: Beijing leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Phnom Penh 35: Beijing leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Phnom Penh 46: Beijing leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Phnom Penh 32: Beijing leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Phnom Penh 50: Beijing leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Phnom Penh in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingPhnom Penh
Official languagePutonghuaKhmer
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Riel (KHR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation43 m11 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingPhnom Penh
City population21,893,0952,129,371
People per km²1,3343,138
Museums within 10 km833
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing 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. 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.