VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Phnom Penh or Valparaiso?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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, Valparaiso 36: Valparaiso leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Valparaiso 50: Phnom Penh leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh and Valparaiso are level on 62.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Valparaiso 56: Phnom Penh leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Valparaiso 63: Valparaiso leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Valparaiso 33: Valparaiso leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Valparaiso 44: Valparaiso leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Valparaiso 30: Phnom Penh leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Valparaiso 60: Phnom Penh leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Valparaiso 38: Valparaiso leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Valparaiso 18: Phnom Penh leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and Valparaiso.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Phnom Penh
44match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Valparaiso
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhValparaiso

Where the figures come from

Valparaiso 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). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhValparaiso
Official languageKhmerSpanish
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation11 m21 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhValparaiso
City population2,129,371296,655
People per km²3,1386,180
Museums within 10 km317
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Valparaiso 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.