VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Kyoto 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 Kyoto for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • nightlife

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. Kyoto 15, Phnom Penh 6: Kyoto leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Phnom Penh 62: Kyoto leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Phnom Penh 62: Kyoto leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Phnom Penh 58: Phnom Penh leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Phnom Penh 28: Kyoto leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Phnom Penh 34: Kyoto leads by 62 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Phnom Penh 32: Kyoto leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Phnom Penh 35: Kyoto leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Phnom Penh 46: Kyoto leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Phnom Penh 32: Kyoto leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Phnom Penh 50: Kyoto leads by 20 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 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
KyotoPhnom Penh

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoPhnom Penh
Official languageJapaneseKhmer
CurrencyYen (JPY)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation51 m11 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoPhnom Penh
City population1,463,7232,129,371
People per km²1,7683,138
Museums within 10 km773
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kyoto or Phnom Penh somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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.