VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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. Edinburgh 22, Siem Reap 5: Edinburgh leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Siem Reap 45: Edinburgh leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Siem Reap 42: Edinburgh leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Siem Reap 40: Edinburgh leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Siem Reap 55: Edinburgh leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Siem Reap 35: Edinburgh leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Siem Reap 30: Edinburgh leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Siem Reap 38: Edinburgh leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Siem Reap 32: Edinburgh leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Edinburgh
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

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. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghSiem Reap
Official languageEnglishKhmer
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Riel (KHR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112 or 999Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation47 m18 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghSiem Reap
City population488,050147,866
People per km²1,884-
Museums within 10 km326
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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