VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The main beach with the green hills behind, Sayulita
SayulitaThe main beach with the green hills behind

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Sayulita by Luisalvaz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Phnom Penh or Sayulita?

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
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Sayulita for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Sayulita’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, Sayulita 80: Sayulita leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Sayulita 42: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Sayulita 7: Phnom Penh leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Sayulita 33: Phnom Penh leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Sayulita 72: Sayulita leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Sayulita 42: Sayulita leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Sayulita 42: Sayulita leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Sayulita 48: Sayulita leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Sayulita 33: Phnom Penh leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Sayulita 45: Phnom Penh leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Sayulita 12: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Sayulita 58: Sayulita 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 Sayulita.

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 culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Sayulita
43match

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

Sayulita in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
342 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhSayulita

Where the figures come from

Sayulita has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Sayulita: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhSayulita
Official languageKhmerSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118911
Elevation11 m2 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)29 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhSayulita
City population2,129,3713,390
People per km²3,138-
Museums within 10 km30
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 Sayulita 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.