VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Boston 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 Boston for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nightlife

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. Boston 35, Phnom Penh 6: Boston leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Phnom Penh 62: Boston leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Phnom Penh 62: Boston leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Phnom Penh 58: Phnom Penh leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Phnom Penh 28: Boston leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Phnom Penh 34: Boston leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Phnom Penh 32: Boston leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Phnom Penh 35: Boston leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Phnom Penh 46: Boston leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Phnom Penh 32: Boston leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Boston
Best match
56match

Wins on families and live music and the arts 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.

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °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
BostonPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonPhnom Penh
Official language-Khmer
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation43 m11 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonPhnom Penh
City population675,6472,129,371
People per km²2,9103,138
Museums within 10 km513
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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