VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The County Courthouse and its garden, Santa Barbara
Santa BarbaraThe County Courthouse and its garden

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Santa Barbara by Warren LeMay, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Phnom Penh or Santa Barbara?

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
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Barbara for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Barbara’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, Santa Barbara 60: Santa Barbara leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh and Santa Barbara are level on 62.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Santa Barbara 48: Phnom Penh leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Santa Barbara 34: Phnom Penh leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Santa Barbara 80: Santa Barbara leads by 52 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Santa Barbara 55: Santa Barbara leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Santa Barbara 64: Santa Barbara leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Santa Barbara 46: Santa Barbara leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Santa Barbara 45: Phnom Penh leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Santa Barbara 15: Phnom Penh leads by 71 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Santa Barbara 50: Santa Barbara leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh and Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara.

Your match

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

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Santa Barbara
Best match
51match

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

Santa Barbara in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
18 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhSanta Barbara

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Santa Barbara: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Barbara / La Patera (11.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhSanta Barbara
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 m15 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsSanta Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA)12 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhSanta Barbara
City population2,129,37188,665
People per km²3,138816
Museums within 10 km310
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 Santa Barbara 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.