VacationSelector
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda

Photos: Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Panama City 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 Panama City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • day trips

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

Choose Phnom Penh for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • 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. Panama City 44, Phnom Penh 6: Panama City leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Panama City 57, Phnom Penh 62: Phnom Penh leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Panama City and Phnom Penh are level on 62.
Nightlife. Panama City 62, Phnom Penh 58: Panama City leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Panama City 74, Phnom Penh 28: Panama City leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Panama City 50, Phnom Penh 34: Panama City leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Panama City 45, Phnom Penh 32: Panama City leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Panama City 40, Phnom Penh 35: Panama City leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Panama City 52, Phnom Penh 46: Panama City leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Panama City 55, Phnom Penh 86: Phnom Penh leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Panama City 34, Phnom Penh 32: Panama City leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Panama City 22, Phnom Penh 50: Phnom Penh leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Panama City and Phnom Penh.

Your match

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

Panama City
Best match
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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.

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Panama CityPhnom Penh

Where the figures come from

Panama City has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre). Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePanama CityPhnom Penh
Official languageSpanishKhmer
CurrencyBalboa (PAB)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation20 m11 m
Main airportTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinationsTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasurePanama CityPhnom Penh
City population1,540,0002,129,371
People per km²5,6003,138
Museums within 10 km103
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Panama City 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.