VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • wellness
  • 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. Lima 42, Phnom Penh 6: Lima leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Phnom Penh 62: Lima leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Phnom Penh 62: Lima leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Phnom Penh 58: Lima leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Phnom Penh 28: Lima leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Lima and Phnom Penh are level on 34.
Good for families. Lima 42, Phnom Penh 32: Lima leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Lima and Phnom Penh are level on 35.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Phnom Penh 46: Lima leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Phnom Penh 32: Lima leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Lima
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 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
LimaPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaPhnom Penh
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaKhmer
CurrencySol (PEN)Riel (KHR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number111 or 911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation154 m11 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaPhnom Penh
City population9,943,8002,129,371
People per km²3,7213,138
Museums within 10 km473
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lima 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.