VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Istanbul 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 Istanbul for

  • shopping
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices

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. Istanbul 45, Phnom Penh 6: Istanbul leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Phnom Penh 62: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Phnom Penh 62: Istanbul leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Phnom Penh 58: Istanbul leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Phnom Penh 28: Istanbul leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Phnom Penh 34: Istanbul leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Phnom Penh 32: Istanbul leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Phnom Penh 35: Istanbul leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Phnom Penh 46: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Phnom Penh 32: Istanbul leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Phnom Penh 50: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on shopping and beaches with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Istanbul in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Phnom Penh in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
168 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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulPhnom Penh
Official languageTurkishKhmer
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation100 m11 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulPhnom Penh
City population15,655,9242,129,371
People per km²2,9303,138
Museums within 10 km733
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Istanbul 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.