VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Kyoto or Siem Reap?

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

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • food and drink

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Siem Reap’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, Siem Reap 5: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Siem Reap 45: Kyoto leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Siem Reap 88: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Siem Reap 42: Siem Reap leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Siem Reap 40: Kyoto leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Siem Reap 55: Kyoto leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Siem Reap 35: Kyoto leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Siem Reap 30: Kyoto leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Siem Reap 38: Kyoto leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Siem Reap 32: Kyoto leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Siem Reap 60: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

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

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

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

Siem Reap has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureKyotoSiem Reap
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 m18 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoSiem Reap
City population1,463,723147,866
People per km²1,768-
Museums within 10 km776
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 Siem Reap 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.