VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Phnom Penh or San Jose?

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
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Jose for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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, San Jose 30: San Jose leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, San Jose 56: Phnom Penh leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, San Jose 36: Phnom Penh leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, San Jose 33: Phnom Penh leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, San Jose 72: San Jose leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, San Jose 30: Phnom Penh leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, San Jose 48: San Jose leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, San Jose 20: Phnom Penh leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, San Jose 38: San Jose leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, San Jose 30: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and San Jose.

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 prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhSan Jose
Official languageKhmer-
CurrencyRiel (KHR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118911
Elevation11 m25 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhSan Jose
City population2,129,3711,013,240
People per km²3,1382,167
Museums within 10 km319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 San Jose 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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.