VacationSelector
The CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei, Bucharest
BucharestThe CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Bucharest by Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Bucharest 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 Bucharest for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • wellness

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. Bucharest 8, Siem Reap 5: Bucharest leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Bucharest 55, Siem Reap 45: Bucharest leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Bucharest 58, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Bucharest 70, Siem Reap 42: Bucharest leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bucharest 45, Siem Reap 40: Bucharest leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Bucharest 52, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Bucharest 52, Siem Reap 35: Bucharest leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Bucharest 52, Siem Reap 30: Bucharest leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Bucharest 45, Siem Reap 38: Bucharest leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Bucharest 70, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bucharest 60, Siem Reap 32: Bucharest leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bucharest 47, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 13 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bucharest and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Bucharest
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bucharest in July

30 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BucharestSiem 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. Bucharest: 1991-2020 normals, Bucuresti / Imh (10 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureBucharestSiem Reap
Official languageRomanianKhmer
CurrencyRomanian Leu (RON)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation70 m18 m
Main airportBucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP)18 km from centre121 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureBucharestSiem Reap
City population1,716,961147,866
People per km²7,597-
Museums within 10 km416
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 Bucharest 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.