VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Rome 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 Rome for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • 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. Rome 50, Siem Reap 5: Rome leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Siem Reap 45: Rome leads by 37 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Siem Reap 88: Rome leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Siem Reap 42: Rome leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Siem Reap 40: Rome leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Siem Reap 55: Rome leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Siem Reap 35: Rome leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Siem Reap 30: Rome leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Siem Reap 38: Rome leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Siem Reap 32: Rome leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rome and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on prices 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.

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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
RomeSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

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. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureRomeSiem Reap
Official languageItalianKhmer
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation21 m18 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeSiem Reap
City population2,748,109147,866
People per km²2,135-
Museums within 10 km1786
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km71
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rome 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.