VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Phnom Penh or Tirana?

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
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Tirana for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Tirana leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Tirana 57: Phnom Penh leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Tirana 42: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh and Tirana are level on 58.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Tirana 62: Tirana leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Tirana 64: Tirana leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Tirana 40: Tirana leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Tirana 54: Tirana leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Tirana 32: Phnom Penh leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Tirana 76: Phnom Penh leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh and Tirana are level on 32.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Tirana 27: Phnom Penh leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and Tirana.

Your match

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

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

Tirana
Best match
49match

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

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhTirana

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhTirana
Official languageKhmerAlbanian
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Lek (ALL)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118112
Elevation11 m110 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhTirana
City population2,129,371389,323
People per km²3,1389,314
Museums within 10 km311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Phnom Penh or Tirana 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.