VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

New Orleans 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 New Orleans for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on New Orleans’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. New Orleans 14, Siem Reap 5: New Orleans leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Siem Reap 45: New Orleans leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Siem Reap 42: New Orleans leads by 43 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Siem Reap 40: New Orleans leads by 2 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 3 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Siem Reap 35: New Orleans leads by 20 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Siem Reap 30: New Orleans leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Siem Reap 38: New Orleans leads by 16 points.
Affordability. New Orleans 40, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Siem Reap 32: New Orleans leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Siem Reap.

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.

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.

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
14 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansSiem 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. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansSiem Reap
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 m18 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansSiem Reap
City population383,997147,866
People per km²423-
Museums within 10 km166
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 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.