VacationSelector
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: San Diego by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

San Diego 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 San Diego for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Diego’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. San Diego 72, Siem Reap 5: San Diego leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. San Diego 62, Siem Reap 45: San Diego leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. San Diego 50, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. San Diego 48, Siem Reap 42: San Diego leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Diego 77, Siem Reap 40: San Diego leads by 37 points.
Day trips. San Diego 60, Siem Reap 55: San Diego leads by 5 points.
Good for families. San Diego 96, Siem Reap 35: San Diego leads by 61 points.
Getting around. San Diego 38, Siem Reap 30: San Diego leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. San Diego 44, Siem Reap 38: San Diego leads by 6 points.
Affordability. San Diego 26, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 62 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Diego 56, Siem Reap 32: San Diego leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Diego 45, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Diego and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

San Diego
Best match
56match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Siem Reap
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.

San Diego in July

24 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 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
San DiegoSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

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. San Diego: 1991-2020 normals, San Diego International Airport (2.8 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureSan DiegoSiem Reap
Official language-Khmer
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation129 m18 m
Main airportSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan DiegoSiem Reap
City population1,386,932147,866
People per km²1,438-
Museums within 10 km266
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Diego 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). 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. 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.

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.