VacationSelector
The Petronas Twin Towers from KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur
Kuala LumpurThe Petronas Twin Towers from KLCC Park
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Kuala Lumpur by Brownc, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Kuala Lumpur 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 Kuala Lumpur for

  • families
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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. Kuala Lumpur 12, Phnom Penh 6: Kuala Lumpur leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Kuala Lumpur 82, Phnom Penh 62: Kuala Lumpur leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Kuala Lumpur 57, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Kuala Lumpur 54, Phnom Penh 58: Phnom Penh leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kuala Lumpur 47, Phnom Penh 28: Kuala Lumpur leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Kuala Lumpur 52, Phnom Penh 34: Kuala Lumpur leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Kuala Lumpur 64, Phnom Penh 32: Kuala Lumpur leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Kuala Lumpur 57, Phnom Penh 35: Kuala Lumpur leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Kuala Lumpur 66, Phnom Penh 46: Kuala Lumpur leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Kuala Lumpur 75, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kuala Lumpur 42, Phnom Penh 32: Kuala Lumpur leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kuala Lumpur 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: Kuala Lumpur and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Kuala Lumpur
Best match
54match

Wins on families and getting around with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kuala Lumpur in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
139 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
12 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Kuala LumpurPhnom Penh

Where the figures come from

Kuala Lumpur's temperatures are measured 46 km from the centre, at Sepang/KL International Airport.

Kuala Lumpur has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kuala Lumpur: 1991-2020 normals, Sepang/KL International Airport (46.1 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKuala LumpurPhnom Penh
Official languageMalayKhmer
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+7
Emergency number999Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation50 m11 m
Main airportKuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL)45 km from centre146 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-21 days

By the numbers

MeasureKuala LumpurPhnom Penh
City population9,000,2802,129,371
People per km²36,9323,138
Museums within 10 km253
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Kuala Lumpur 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.