VacationSelector
The Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane
BrisbaneThe Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

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

Brisbane 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 Brisbane for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Brisbane 55, Phnom Penh 6: Brisbane leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Brisbane 60, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Brisbane 42, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Brisbane 55, Phnom Penh 58: Phnom Penh leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brisbane 74, Phnom Penh 28: Brisbane leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Brisbane 50, Phnom Penh 34: Brisbane leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Brisbane 78, Phnom Penh 32: Brisbane leads by 46 points.
Getting around. Brisbane 62, Phnom Penh 35: Brisbane leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Brisbane 45, Phnom Penh 46: Phnom Penh leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Brisbane 33, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 53 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brisbane 55, Phnom Penh 32: Brisbane leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brisbane 40, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brisbane and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Brisbane
Best match
54match

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

Phnom Penh
44match

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.

Brisbane in July

22 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
20 °Csea
11 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
BrisbanePhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brisbane: 1991-2020 normals, Brisbane (4.5 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrisbanePhnom Penh
Official languageEnglishKhmer
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Riel (KHR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10UTC+7
Emergency number000Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation0 m11 m
Main airportBrisbane International Airport (BNE)13 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrisbanePhnom Penh
City population2,706,9662,129,371
People per km²1713,138
Museums within 10 km163
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C9 months-

Where else could you go?

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