VacationSelector
Galway Cathedral from the River Corrib, Galway
GalwayGalway Cathedral from the River Corrib
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Galway by Dieglop, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Galway 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 Galway for

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

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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. Galway 28, Siem Reap 5: Galway leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Galway and Siem Reap are level on 45.
Culture & sights. Galway 33, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Galway 50, Siem Reap 42: Galway leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galway 78, Siem Reap 40: Galway leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Galway 56, Siem Reap 55: Galway leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Galway 42, Siem Reap 35: Galway leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Galway 58, Siem Reap 30: Galway leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Galway and Siem Reap are level on 38.
Affordability. Galway 28, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galway 57, Siem Reap 32: Galway leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galway 28, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galway and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Galway
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Galway in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 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
GalwaySiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Galway's temperatures are measured 64 km from the centre, at Shannon Airport.

Galway 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.

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. Galway: 1991-2020 normals, Shannon Airport (64.2 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureGalwaySiem Reap
Official languageEnglish, IrishKhmer
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation25 m18 m
Main airportShannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre39 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalwaySiem Reap
City population83,456147,866
People per km²1,563-
Museums within 10 km46
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 Galway 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). 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. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.