VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • food and drink

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. Cologne 14, Phnom Penh 6: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Phnom Penh 62: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Phnom Penh 58: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Phnom Penh 28: Cologne leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Phnom Penh 34: Cologne leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Phnom Penh 32: Cologne leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Phnom Penh 35: Cologne leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Phnom Penh 46: Cologne leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Phnom Penh 32: Cologne leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne and Phnom Penh are level on 50.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Phnom Penh in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
168 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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
ColognePhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColognePhnom Penh
Official languageGermanKhmer
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation59 m11 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureColognePhnom Penh
City population1,025,5232,129,371
People per km²2,5323,138
Museums within 10 km403
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cologne 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.