VacationSelector
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Medellin 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 Medellin for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • prices

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. Medellin and Siem Reap are level on 5.
Food & drink. Medellin 58, Siem Reap 45: Medellin leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Medellin 42, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Medellin 76, Siem Reap 42: Medellin leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Medellin 66, Siem Reap 40: Medellin leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Medellin 58, Siem Reap 55: Medellin leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Medellin 50, Siem Reap 35: Medellin leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Medellin 55, Siem Reap 30: Medellin leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Medellin 45, Siem Reap 38: Medellin leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Medellin 80, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Medellin 42, Siem Reap 32: Medellin leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Medellin 30, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Medellin and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Medellin
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and nature and the outdoors 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.

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
12 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MedellinSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Medellin has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

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. Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureMedellinSiem Reap
Official languageSpanishKhmer
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number123Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation1,405 m18 m
Main airportJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureMedellinSiem Reap
City population2,529,403147,866
People per km²6,644-
Museums within 10 km146
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

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