VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Ottawa 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 Ottawa for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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. Ottawa 35, Phnom Penh 6: Ottawa leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa and Phnom Penh are level on 62.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Phnom Penh 58: Phnom Penh leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Phnom Penh 28: Ottawa leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Phnom Penh 34: Ottawa leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Phnom Penh 32: Ottawa leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Phnom Penh 35: Ottawa leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa 40, Phnom Penh 46: Phnom Penh leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Phnom Penh 32: Ottawa leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Phnom Penh 50: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Ottawa
Best match
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Ottawa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Phnom Penh in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
168 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaPhnom Penh

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaPhnom Penh
Official languageFrench, EnglishKhmer
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)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
Elevation70 m11 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaPhnom Penh
City population1,017,4492,129,371
People per km²3663,138
Museums within 10 km203
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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