VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral, Santo Domingo
Santo DomingoThe statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Santo Domingo by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Phnom Penh or Santo Domingo?

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

  • wellness
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santo Domingo for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Santo Domingo’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, Santo Domingo 58: Santo Domingo leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Santo Domingo 58: Phnom Penh leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Santo Domingo 64: Santo Domingo leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Santo Domingo 66: Santo Domingo leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Santo Domingo 36: Santo Domingo leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Santo Domingo 44: Santo Domingo leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Santo Domingo 40: Santo Domingo leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Santo Domingo 40: Santo Domingo leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Santo Domingo 44: Phnom Penh leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Santo Domingo 66: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Santo Domingo 46: Santo Domingo leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Santo Domingo 22: Phnom Penh leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and Santo Domingo.

Your match

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

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Santo Domingo
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Santo Domingo in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
183 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhSanto Domingo

Where the figures come from

Santo Domingo 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Santo Domingo: 1991-2020 normals, Santo Domingo (6.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhSanto Domingo
Official languageKhmerSpanish
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-4
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118911
Elevation11 m14 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsLas Américas International Airport (SDQ)28 km from centre40 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhSanto Domingo
City population2,129,3712,201,941
People per km²3,1381,691
Museums within 10 km310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Santo Domingo 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.