VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Hurghada 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 Hurghada for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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. Hurghada 84, Phnom Penh 6: Hurghada leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada 40, Phnom Penh 58: Phnom Penh leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada 72, Phnom Penh 28: Hurghada leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, Phnom Penh 34: Phnom Penh leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, Phnom Penh 32: Hurghada leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, Phnom Penh 35: Phnom Penh leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, Phnom Penh 46: Phnom Penh leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, Phnom Penh 32: Phnom Penh leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 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: Hurghada and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Hurghada
43match

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

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HurghadaPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaPhnom Penh
Official languageArabicKhmer
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation11 m11 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaPhnom Penh
City population214,2472,129,371
People per km²-3,138
Museums within 10 km13
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Hurghada 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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.