VacationSelector
The coastline of the Hotel Zone, Cancun
CancunThe coastline of the Hotel Zone
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Cancun 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 Cancun for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • live music and the arts

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. Cancun 98, Siem Reap 5: Cancun leads by 93 points.
Food & drink. Cancun 44, Siem Reap 45: Siem Reap leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Cancun 15, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 73 points.
Nightlife. Cancun 70, Siem Reap 42: Cancun leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cancun 66, Siem Reap 40: Cancun leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Cancun 65, Siem Reap 55: Cancun leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Cancun 78, Siem Reap 35: Cancun leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Cancun 25, Siem Reap 30: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Cancun 40, Siem Reap 38: Cancun leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Cancun 46, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cancun 17, Siem Reap 32: Siem Reap leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cancun 55, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cancun and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Cancun
Best match
52match

Wins on beaches and families 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.

Cancun in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
89 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CancunSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Cancun 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.

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. Cancun: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureCancunSiem Reap
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaKhmer
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation5 m18 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre137 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureCancunSiem Reap
City population888,797147,866
Museums within 10 km16
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cancun or Siem Reap somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.