VacationSelector
Palms on a white beach at Cap Cana, Punta Cana
Punta CanaPalms on a white beach at Cap Cana
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Punta Cana by Mary Mark Ockerbloom, CC0; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Punta Cana 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 Punta Cana for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta Cana’s own page.

Choose Siem Reap for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • day trips

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. Punta Cana 94, Siem Reap 5: Punta Cana leads by 89 points.
Food & drink. Punta Cana 30, Siem Reap 45: Siem Reap leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Punta Cana 8, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 80 points.
Nightlife. Punta Cana 40, Siem Reap 42: Siem Reap leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Punta Cana 52, Siem Reap 40: Punta Cana leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Punta Cana 35, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Punta Cana 68, Siem Reap 35: Punta Cana leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Punta Cana 15, Siem Reap 30: Siem Reap leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Punta Cana 30, Siem Reap 38: Siem Reap leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Punta Cana 44, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Punta Cana 15, Siem Reap 32: Siem Reap leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Punta Cana 52, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Punta Cana and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Punta Cana
40match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Siem Reap
Best match
47match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Punta Cana in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
96 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
Punta CanaSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Punta Cana 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. Punta Cana: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Punta Cana (0.9 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasurePunta CanaSiem 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
Elevation28 m18 m
Main airportPunta Cana International Airport (PUJ)1 km from centre93 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasurePunta CanaSiem Reap
City population138,919147,866
People per km²292-
Museums within 10 km06
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 Punta Cana 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.