VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
Palms on a white beach at Cap Cana, Punta Cana
Punta CanaPalms on a white beach at Cap Cana

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Punta Cana by Mary Mark Ockerbloom, CC0.

Phnom Penh or Punta Cana?

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
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Punta Cana for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta Cana’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, Punta Cana 94: Punta Cana leads by 88 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Punta Cana 30: Phnom Penh leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Punta Cana 8: Phnom Penh leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Punta Cana 40: Phnom Penh leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Punta Cana 52: Punta Cana leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Punta Cana 35: Punta Cana leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Punta Cana 68: Punta Cana leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Punta Cana 15: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Punta Cana 30: Phnom Penh leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Punta Cana 44: Phnom Penh leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Punta Cana 15: Phnom Penh leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Punta Cana 52: Punta Cana leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and Punta Cana.

Your match

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

Phnom Penh
Best match
44match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Punta Cana
40match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Punta Cana in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
96 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 PenhPunta Cana

Where the figures come from

Punta Cana 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). Punta Cana: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Punta Cana (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhPunta Cana
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 m28 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsPunta Cana International Airport (PUJ)1 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhPunta Cana
City population2,129,371138,919
People per km²3,138292
Museums within 10 km30
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 Punta Cana 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.