VacationSelector
The Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig, Manila
ManilaThe Manila Central Post Office on the Pasig
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Manila by Kenneth Surillo, Pexels License; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Manila 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 Manila for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • 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. Manila 12, Siem Reap 5: Manila leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Manila 64, Siem Reap 45: Manila leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Manila 54, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Manila 64, Siem Reap 42: Manila leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manila and Siem Reap are level on 40.
Day trips. Manila 42, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Manila 42, Siem Reap 35: Manila leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Manila 26, Siem Reap 30: Siem Reap leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Manila 60, Siem Reap 38: Manila leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Manila 77, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manila 50, Siem Reap 32: Manila leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manila 40, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manila and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Manila
48match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Manila in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
487 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
ManilaSiem 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. Manila: 1991-2020 normals, Science Garden (6 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureManilaSiem Reap
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishKhmer
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Riel (KHR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation9 m18 m
Main airportNinoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)11 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureManilaSiem Reap
City population1,902,590147,866
People per km²76,104-
Museums within 10 km276
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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