VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

New York 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 York for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on New York’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 York 50, Phnom Penh 6: New York leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, Phnom Penh 62: New York leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, Phnom Penh 62: New York leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, Phnom Penh 58: New York leads by 39 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York 55, Phnom Penh 28: New York leads by 27 points.
Day trips. New York 68, Phnom Penh 34: New York leads by 34 points.
Good for families. New York 70, Phnom Penh 32: New York leads by 38 points.
Getting around. New York 82, Phnom Penh 35: New York leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, Phnom Penh 46: New York leads by 51 points.
Affordability. New York 12, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 74 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, Phnom Penh 32: New York leads by 67 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 42, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New York and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping 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 York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
15 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 YorkPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkPhnom Penh
Official language-Khmer
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation25 m11 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkPhnom Penh
City population8,804,1902,129,371
People per km²7,2563,138
Museums within 10 km1573
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

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