VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • getting around

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. Los Angeles 60, Phnom Penh 6: Los Angeles leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Phnom Penh 62: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Phnom Penh 62: Los Angeles leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Phnom Penh 58: Los Angeles leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Phnom Penh 28: Los Angeles leads by 52 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Phnom Penh 34: Los Angeles leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Phnom Penh 32: Los Angeles leads by 52 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Phnom Penh 35: Phnom Penh leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Phnom Penh 46: Los Angeles leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 62 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Phnom Penh 32: Los Angeles leads by 51 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Phnom Penh 50: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesPhnom Penh
Official language-Khmer
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation106 m11 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesPhnom Penh
City population3,898,7472,129,371
People per km²2,9943,138
Museums within 10 km393
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles 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). 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.