VacationSelector
Punta del Este
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Punta del Este 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 del Este for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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 del Este 72, Siem Reap 5: Punta del Este leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Punta del Este and Siem Reap are level on 45.
Culture & sights. Punta del Este 22, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 66 points.
Nightlife. Punta del Este 60, Siem Reap 42: Punta del Este leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Punta del Este 55, Siem Reap 40: Punta del Este leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Punta del Este 45, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Punta del Este 55, Siem Reap 35: Punta del Este leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Punta del Este 35, Siem Reap 30: Punta del Este leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Punta del Este 42, Siem Reap 38: Punta del Este leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Punta del Este 20, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Punta del Este 22, Siem Reap 32: Siem Reap leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Punta del Este 32, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Punta del Este and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Punta del Este
42match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Siem Reap
Best match
47match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Punta del Este in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Punta del EsteSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Punta del Este's temperatures are measured 79 km from the centre, at Rocha.

Punta del Este 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 del Este: 1991-2020 normals, Rocha (78.5 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasurePunta del EsteSiem Reap
Official language-Khmer
CurrencyPeso Uruguayo (UYU)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCFIL230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation11 m18 m
Main airportCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasurePunta del EsteSiem Reap
City population9,277147,866
People per km²455-
Museums within 10 km56
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Punta del Este 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.