VacationSelector
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
Phnom PenhThe Silver Pagoda
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Phnom Penh by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Phnom Penh or Wilmington?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Phnom Penh 62, Wilmington 48: Phnom Penh leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Phnom Penh 62, Wilmington 40: Phnom Penh leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Phnom Penh 58, Wilmington 40: Phnom Penh leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phnom Penh 28, Wilmington 58: Wilmington leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Phnom Penh 34, Wilmington 45: Wilmington leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Phnom Penh 32, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Phnom Penh 35, Wilmington 28: Phnom Penh leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Phnom Penh 46, Wilmington 33: Phnom Penh leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Phnom Penh 86, Wilmington 42: Phnom Penh leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phnom Penh 32, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phnom Penh 50, Wilmington 33: Phnom Penh leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phnom Penh and Wilmington.

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 prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Phnom PenhWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phnom Penh: 1991-2020 normals, Phnom-Penh / Pochentong (8 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhnom PenhWilmington
Official languageKhmer-
CurrencyRiel (KHR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118911
Elevation11 m9 m
Main airportTecho International Airport (KTI)23 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhnom PenhWilmington
City population2,129,371115,451
People per km²3,138839
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Wilmington 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.