VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Madrid 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 Madrid for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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. Madrid and Siem Reap are level on 5.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Siem Reap 45: Madrid leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Siem Reap 42: Madrid leads by 43 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Siem Reap 40: Madrid leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Siem Reap 55: Madrid leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Siem Reap 35: Madrid leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Siem Reap 30: Madrid leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Siem Reap 38: Madrid leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Siem Reap 32: Madrid leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MadridSiem 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. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureMadridSiem Reap
Official languageSpanishKhmer
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation663 m18 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridSiem Reap
City population3,506,730147,866
People per km²5,801-
Museums within 10 km886
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Madrid 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.