VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Galle 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 Galle for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

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. Galle 80, Phnom Penh 6: Galle leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Phnom Penh 58: Phnom Penh leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Phnom Penh 28: Galle leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Phnom Penh 34: Galle leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Phnom Penh 32: Galle leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Galle and Phnom Penh are level on 35.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Phnom Penh 46: Phnom Penh leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle 10, Phnom Penh 32: Phnom Penh leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Phnom Penh 50: Galle leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Galle
Best match
48match

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

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Galle in July

28 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
116 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Phnom Penh in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
168 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GallePhnom Penh

Where the figures come from

Galle 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. Galle: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGallePhnom Penh
Official languageTamil, SinhalaKhmer
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation0 m11 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-21 days

By the numbers

MeasureGallePhnom Penh
City population93,1182,129,371
People per km²-3,138
Museums within 10 km23
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Galle or Phnom Penh 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.