VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Seoul 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 Seoul for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • families

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Seoul 18, Siem Reap 5: Seoul leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Siem Reap 45: Seoul leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Siem Reap 42: Seoul leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Siem Reap 40: Seoul leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Siem Reap 55: Seoul leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Siem Reap 35: Seoul leads by 45 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Siem Reap 30: Seoul leads by 57 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Siem Reap 38: Seoul leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Siem Reap 32: Seoul leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Siem Reap 60: Seoul leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seoul and Siem Reap.

Your match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around and shopping 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.

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulSiem 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. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureSeoulSiem Reap
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageKhmer
CurrencyWon (KRW)Riel (KHR)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation38 m18 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulSiem Reap
City population9,668,465147,866
People per km²15,973-
Museums within 10 km816
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Seoul 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.