VacationSelector
The statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral, Santo Domingo
Santo DomingoThe statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Santo Domingo by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Santo Domingo 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 Santo Domingo for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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. Santo Domingo 58, Siem Reap 5: Santo Domingo leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Santo Domingo 58, Siem Reap 45: Santo Domingo leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Santo Domingo 64, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Santo Domingo 66, Siem Reap 42: Santo Domingo leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santo Domingo 36, Siem Reap 40: Siem Reap leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Santo Domingo 44, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Santo Domingo 40, Siem Reap 35: Santo Domingo leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Santo Domingo 40, Siem Reap 30: Santo Domingo leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Santo Domingo 44, Siem Reap 38: Santo Domingo leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Santo Domingo 66, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santo Domingo 46, Siem Reap 32: Santo Domingo leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santo Domingo 22, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santo Domingo and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Santo Domingo
49match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on wellness 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.

Santo Domingo in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
183 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 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
Santo DomingoSiem Reap

Where the figures come from

Santo Domingo has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

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. Santo Domingo: 1991-2020 normals, Santo Domingo (6.4 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureSanto DomingoSiem Reap
Official languageSpanishKhmer
CurrencyDominican Peso (DOP)Riel (KHR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4UTC+7
Emergency number911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation14 m18 m
Main airportLas Américas International Airport (SDQ)28 km from centre40 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanto DomingoSiem Reap
City population2,201,941147,866
People per km²1,691-
Museums within 10 km106
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Santo Domingo 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.