VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Phnom Penh or Sydney?

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

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

Choose Sydney for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 89 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Sydney 60: Phnom Penh leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 57 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Sydney 50: Sydney leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Sydney 22: Phnom Penh leads by 64 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Sydney 55: Sydney leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and Sydney.

Your match

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

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sydney
Best match
66match

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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhSydney
Official languageKhmerEnglish
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118000
Elevation11 m6 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhSydney
City population2,129,3715,450,496
People per km²3,138449
Museums within 10 km338
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Phnom Penh or Sydney 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.