VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

New Orleans 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 New Orleans for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • wellness

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. New Orleans 14, Phnom Penh 6: New Orleans leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Phnom Penh 62: New Orleans leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Phnom Penh 62: New Orleans leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Phnom Penh 58: New Orleans leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Phnom Penh 28: New Orleans leads by 14 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Phnom Penh 34: New Orleans leads by 18 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Phnom Penh 32: New Orleans leads by 23 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Phnom Penh 35: New Orleans leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Phnom Penh 46: New Orleans leads by 8 points.
Affordability. New Orleans 40, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Phnom Penh 32: New Orleans leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

New Orleans
Best match
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

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.

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
30 °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
New OrleansPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansPhnom Penh
Official language-Khmer
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation-2 m11 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansPhnom Penh
City population383,9972,129,371
People per km²4233,138
Museums within 10 km163
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New Orleans 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.