VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Phnom Penh or Puerto Plata?

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 Phnom Penh for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Puerto Plata for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Plata’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. Phnom Penh 6, Puerto Plata 80: Puerto Plata leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Puerto Plata 40: Phnom Penh leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Puerto Plata 35: Phnom Penh leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Puerto Plata 38: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Puerto Plata 68: Puerto Plata leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Puerto Plata 48: Puerto Plata leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Puerto Plata 57: Puerto Plata leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Puerto Plata 30: Phnom Penh leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Puerto Plata 30: Phnom Penh leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Puerto Plata 64: Phnom Penh leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Puerto Plata 18: Phnom Penh leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Puerto Plata 35: Phnom Penh leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
45match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Phnom Penh in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
168 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhPuerto Plata

Where the figures come from

Puerto Plata 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. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhPuerto Plata
Official languageKhmerSpanish
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-4
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118911
Elevation11 m34 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhPuerto Plata
City population2,129,371-
People per km²3,138-
Museums within 10 km31
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Phnom Penh or Puerto Plata 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.