VacationSelector
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Rio de Janeiro 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 Rio de Janeiro for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’s own page.

Choose Siem Reap for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Rio de Janeiro 92, Siem Reap 5: Rio de Janeiro leads by 87 points.
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro 62, Siem Reap 45: Rio de Janeiro leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Rio de Janeiro 68, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro 80, Siem Reap 42: Rio de Janeiro leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro 90, Siem Reap 40: Rio de Janeiro leads by 50 points.
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro 50, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro 50, Siem Reap 35: Rio de Janeiro leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro 44, Siem Reap 30: Rio de Janeiro leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Rio de Janeiro 50, Siem Reap 38: Rio de Janeiro leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Rio de Janeiro 60, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro 66, Siem Reap 32: Rio de Janeiro leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro 30, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rio de Janeiro and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

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

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on wellness 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.

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
11 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
Rio de JaneiroSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro 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.

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. Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroSiem Reap
Official languagePortugueseKhmer
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCN60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation31 m18 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroSiem Reap
City population6,211,223147,866
People per km²4,930-
Museums within 10 km696
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
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 Rio de Janeiro or Siem Reap somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.