VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Phnom Penh or Riga?

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

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Riga for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Riga leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Riga 52: Phnom Penh leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Riga 66: Riga leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Riga 52: Phnom Penh leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Riga 55: Riga leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Riga 60: Riga leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Riga 50: Riga leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Riga 68: Riga leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Riga 45: Phnom Penh leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Riga 62: Phnom Penh leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Riga 65: Riga leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh and Riga are level on 50.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and Riga.

Your match

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

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Riga
Best match
55match

Wins on beaches and getting around 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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhRiga
Official languageKhmerLatvian
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118112
Elevation11 m6 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days-

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhRiga
City population2,129,371588,911
People per km²3,138-
Museums within 10 km312
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Phnom Penh or Riga 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.