VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Lima 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 Lima for

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

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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. Lima 42, Siem Reap 5: Lima leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Siem Reap 45: Lima leads by 43 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Siem Reap 42: Lima leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Siem Reap 40: Lima leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Siem Reap 35: Lima leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Siem Reap 30: Lima leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Siem Reap 38: Lima leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Siem Reap 32: Lima leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 35 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Lima
Best match
51match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights 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

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
LimaSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

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. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureLimaSiem Reap
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 m18 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaSiem Reap
City population9,943,800147,866
People per km²3,721-
Museums within 10 km476
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 Siem Reap 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. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.