VacationSelector
The old town on the Neckar, Heidelberg
HeidelbergThe old town on the Neckar
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Heidelberg by Kuanling Chen, Pexels License; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Heidelberg 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 Heidelberg for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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. Heidelberg 7, Phnom Penh 6: Heidelberg leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Heidelberg 40, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Heidelberg 58, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Heidelberg 38, Phnom Penh 58: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Heidelberg 60, Phnom Penh 28: Heidelberg leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Heidelberg 78, Phnom Penh 34: Heidelberg leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Heidelberg 62, Phnom Penh 32: Heidelberg leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Heidelberg 72, Phnom Penh 35: Heidelberg leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Heidelberg 40, Phnom Penh 46: Phnom Penh leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Heidelberg 42, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Heidelberg 48, Phnom Penh 32: Heidelberg leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Heidelberg 44, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Heidelberg and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Heidelberg
Best match
49match

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.

Heidelberg in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
8 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
HeidelbergPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Heidelberg: 1991-2020 normals, Heidelberg (4.5 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHeidelbergPhnom 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
Elevation114 m11 m
Main airportFrankfurt Main Airport (FRA)69 km from centre281 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureHeidelbergPhnom Penh
City population156,0922,129,371
People per km²1,4333,138
Museums within 10 km173
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41

Where else could you go?

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