VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Johannesburg 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 Johannesburg for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • 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. Johannesburg 5, Phnom Penh 6: Phnom Penh leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Phnom Penh 58: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Phnom Penh 28: Johannesburg leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Phnom Penh 34: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Phnom Penh 32: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Phnom Penh 35: Phnom Penh leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Phnom Penh 46: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Phnom Penh 32: Johannesburg leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
Best match
47match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 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
JohannesburgPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgPhnom Penh
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageKhmer
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation1,753 m11 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgPhnom Penh
City population4,803,2622,129,371
People per km²2,9223,138
Museums within 10 km143
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

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