VacationSelector
Haedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea, Busan
BusanHaedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Busan by Andrea De Santis, Pexels License; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Busan 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 Busan for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Busan 68, Phnom Penh 6: Busan leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Busan 72, Phnom Penh 62: Busan leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Busan 52, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Busan 60, Phnom Penh 58: Busan leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Busan 74, Phnom Penh 28: Busan leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Busan 74, Phnom Penh 34: Busan leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Busan 70, Phnom Penh 32: Busan leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Busan 68, Phnom Penh 35: Busan leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Busan 60, Phnom Penh 46: Busan leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Busan 56, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Busan 42, Phnom Penh 32: Busan leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Busan 78, Phnom Penh 50: Busan leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Busan and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Busan
Best match
65match

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.

Busan in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
352 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BusanPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Busan: 1991-2020 normals, Pusan (9.7 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBusanPhnom Penh
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageKhmer
CurrencyWon (KRW)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation30 m11 m
Main airportGimhae International Airport (PUS)12 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureBusanPhnom Penh
City population3,453,1982,129,371
People per km²4,4863,138
Museums within 10 km73
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

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