VacationSelector
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Siem Reap or Sydney?

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 Siem Reap for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Sydney for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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. Siem Reap 5, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 90 points.
Food & drink. Siem Reap 45, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Siem Reap 88, Sydney 60: Siem Reap leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Siem Reap 42, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Siem Reap 40, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 45 points.
Day trips. Siem Reap 55, Sydney 50: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Siem Reap 35, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Siem Reap 30, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Siem Reap 38, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Siem Reap 88, Sydney 22: Siem Reap leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Siem Reap 32, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Siem Reap 60, Sydney 55: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Siem Reap and Sydney.

Your match

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

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sydney
Best match
66match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Siem ReapSydney

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. Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSiem ReapSydney
Official languageKhmerEnglish
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118000
Elevation18 m6 m
Main airportSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSiem ReapSydney
City population147,8665,450,496
People per km²-449
Museums within 10 km638
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Siem Reap or Sydney 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. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.