VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

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

Santiago 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 Santiago for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • culture and sights
  • 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. Santiago 12, Siem Reap 5: Santiago leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Siem Reap 45: Santiago leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Siem Reap 42: Santiago leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Siem Reap 40: Santiago leads by 43 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Siem Reap 55: Santiago leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Siem Reap 35: Santiago leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Santiago 68, Siem Reap 30: Santiago leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Siem Reap 38: Santiago leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Siem Reap 32: Santiago leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 hdaylight a day

Siem Reap in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SantiagoSiem 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. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoSiem Reap
Official languageSpanishKhmer
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation575 m18 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoSiem Reap
City population6,257,516147,866
People per km²7,468-
Museums within 10 km546
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santiago 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.