VacationSelector
A heritage tram before the Regent building, Christchurch
ChristchurchA heritage tram before the Regent building
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Christchurch by Bernard Spragg. NZ, CC0; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Christchurch 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 Christchurch for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • 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. Christchurch 38, Phnom Penh 6: Christchurch leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Christchurch 45, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Christchurch 38, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Christchurch 32, Phnom Penh 58: Phnom Penh leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Christchurch 84, Phnom Penh 28: Christchurch leads by 56 points.
Day trips. Christchurch 45, Phnom Penh 34: Christchurch leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Christchurch 66, Phnom Penh 32: Christchurch leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Christchurch 48, Phnom Penh 35: Christchurch leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Christchurch 32, Phnom Penh 46: Phnom Penh leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Christchurch 38, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Christchurch 38, Phnom Penh 32: Christchurch leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Christchurch 45, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Christchurch and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Christchurch
46match

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

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Christchurch in July

11 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
9 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
ChristchurchPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Christchurch: 1991-2020 normals, Christchurch (8.7 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChristchurchPhnom Penh
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriKhmer
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Riel (KHR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number111Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation20 m11 m
Main airportChristchurch International Airport (CHC)10 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureChristchurchPhnom Penh
City population383,2002,129,371
People per km²1,2983,138
Museums within 10 km113
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 Christchurch 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.