VacationSelector
The Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Puerto Plata or Siem Reap?

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 Puerto Plata for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Plata’s own page.

Choose Siem Reap for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Siem Reap’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. Puerto Plata 80, Siem Reap 5: Puerto Plata leads by 75 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Plata 40, Siem Reap 45: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Plata 35, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Plata 38, Siem Reap 42: Siem Reap leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Plata 68, Siem Reap 40: Puerto Plata leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Puerto Plata 48, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Puerto Plata 57, Siem Reap 35: Puerto Plata leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Puerto Plata and Siem Reap are level on 30.
Shopping & style. Puerto Plata 30, Siem Reap 38: Siem Reap leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Puerto Plata 64, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Plata 18, Siem Reap 32: Siem Reap leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Plata 35, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Plata and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Puerto Plata
45match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto PlataSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Puerto Plata 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.

Siem Reap has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasurePuerto PlataSiem Reap
Official languageSpanishKhmer
CurrencyDominican Peso (DOP)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4UTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation34 m18 m
Main airportGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto PlataSiem Reap
City population-147,866
Museums within 10 km16
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Puerto Plata or Siem Reap 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.