VacationSelector
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Rotorua 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 Rotorua for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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. Rotorua 33, Siem Reap 5: Rotorua leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Rotorua 33, Siem Reap 45: Siem Reap leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Rotorua 38, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Rotorua 14, Siem Reap 42: Siem Reap leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotorua 86, Siem Reap 40: Rotorua leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Rotorua 45, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Rotorua 68, Siem Reap 35: Rotorua leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Rotorua and Siem Reap are level on 30.
Shopping & style. Rotorua 22, Siem Reap 38: Siem Reap leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Rotorua 36, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotorua 30, Siem Reap 32: Siem Reap leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotorua 86, Siem Reap 60: Rotorua leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotorua and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Rotorua
43match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Rotorua in July

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
15 °Csea
10 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
RotoruaSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Rotorua 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. Rotorua: 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

MeasureRotoruaSiem Reap
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriKhmer
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Riel (KHR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number111Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation280 m18 m
Main airportRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotoruaSiem Reap
City population58,500147,866
People per km²22-
Museums within 10 km16
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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