VacationSelector
The beach and the bay with the mountains behind, Nuevo Vallarta
Nuevo VallartaThe beach and the bay with the mountains behind
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Nuevo Vallarta by Harpqueen, Public domain; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Nuevo Vallarta 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 Nuevo Vallarta for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • nightlife

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. Nuevo Vallarta 84, Siem Reap 5: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 79 points.
Food & drink. Nuevo Vallarta 40, Siem Reap 45: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Nuevo Vallarta 6, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 82 points.
Nightlife. Nuevo Vallarta 16, Siem Reap 42: Siem Reap leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nuevo Vallarta 75, Siem Reap 40: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Nuevo Vallarta 58, Siem Reap 55: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Nuevo Vallarta 73, Siem Reap 35: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Nuevo Vallarta 25, Siem Reap 30: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Nuevo Vallarta 22, Siem Reap 38: Siem Reap leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Nuevo Vallarta 45, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nuevo Vallarta 18, Siem Reap 32: Siem Reap leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nuevo Vallarta 55, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nuevo Vallarta and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Nuevo Vallarta
43match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Siem Reap
Best match
47match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Nuevo Vallarta in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
206 mmrain in the month
30 °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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Nuevo VallartaSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Nuevo Vallarta 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.

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. Nuevo Vallarta: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km. Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureNuevo VallartaSiem Reap
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaKhmer
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation3 m18 m
Main airportPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)4 km from centre52 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureNuevo VallartaSiem Reap
City population1,301147,866
Museums within 10 km06
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 Nuevo Vallarta or Siem Reap somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.