VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Phnom Penh or Rotterdam?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotterdam’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, Rotterdam 27: Rotterdam leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Rotterdam 52: Phnom Penh leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Rotterdam 58: Phnom Penh leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Rotterdam 52: Phnom Penh leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Rotterdam 44: Rotterdam leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Rotterdam 38: Phnom Penh leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Rotterdam 42: Phnom Penh leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and Rotterdam.

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.

Rotterdam
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips 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 recordsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Rotterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Rotterdam 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.

Rotterdam's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhRotterdam
Official languageKhmerDutch
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118112
Elevation11 m10 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhRotterdam
City population2,129,371664,311
People per km²3,1382,080
Museums within 10 km340
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
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 Rotterdam 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.