VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Helsinki 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 Helsinki for

  • getting around
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • 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. Helsinki 28, Siem Reap 5: Helsinki leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Siem Reap 45: Helsinki leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Siem Reap 42: Helsinki leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Siem Reap 40: Helsinki leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Siem Reap 55: Helsinki leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Siem Reap 35: Helsinki leads by 41 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Siem Reap 30: Helsinki leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Siem Reap 38: Helsinki leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Siem Reap 32: Helsinki leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Siem Reap 60: Helsinki leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Helsinki and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and families 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.

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

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. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiSiem Reap
Official languageFinnish, SwedishKhmer
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation17 m18 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiSiem Reap
City population694,392147,866
People per km²3,239-
Museums within 10 km746
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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