VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Phnom Penh or Santa Marta?

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
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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 Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Santa Marta 44: Phnom Penh leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Santa Marta 34: Phnom Penh leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Santa Marta 50: Phnom Penh leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 56 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Santa Marta 40: Santa Marta leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Santa Marta 38: Santa Marta leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Santa Marta 27: Phnom Penh leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Santa Marta 80: Phnom Penh leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Santa Marta 17: Phnom Penh leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Santa Marta 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 Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

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 recordsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhSanta Marta
Official languageKhmerSpanish
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118123
Elevation11 m8 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhSanta Marta
City population2,129,371505,915
People per km²3,1381,723
Museums within 10 km33
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 Santa Marta 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.