VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Phnom Penh or Tromso?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Tromso leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Tromso 36: Phnom Penh leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Tromso 27: Phnom Penh leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Tromso 38: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 64 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Tromso 14: Phnom Penh leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Tromso 45: Tromso leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Tromso 60: Tromso leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Tromso 15: Phnom Penh leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Tromso 11: Phnom Penh leads by 75 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh and Tromso are level on 32.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Tromso 38: Phnom Penh leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and Tromso.

Your match

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

Phnom Penh
Best match
44match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhTromso
Official languageKhmerNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation11 m20 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhTromso
City population2,129,37179,943
People per km²3,13832
Museums within 10 km38
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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