VacationSelector
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Ghent 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 Ghent for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Ghent’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. Ghent 25, Siem Reap 5: Ghent leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Ghent 62, Siem Reap 45: Ghent leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Ghent 72, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Ghent 55, Siem Reap 42: Ghent leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ghent 35, Siem Reap 40: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Ghent 88, Siem Reap 55: Ghent leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Ghent 50, Siem Reap 35: Ghent leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Ghent 78, Siem Reap 30: Ghent leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Ghent 50, Siem Reap 38: Ghent leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Ghent 38, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ghent 60, Siem Reap 32: Ghent leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ghent 33, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ghent and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Ghent
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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.

Ghent in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °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
GhentSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Ghent 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.

Ghent's sunshine is measured 45 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

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. Ghent: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Melle / Kalverhaag (10.1 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureGhentSiem Reap
Official languageFrench, German, DutchKhmer
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation12 m18 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureGhentSiem Reap
City population272,657147,866
People per km²1,728-
Museums within 10 km306
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Ghent or Siem Reap somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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.