VacationSelector
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Siem Reap or Tirana?

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

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Tirana for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Tirana leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Siem Reap 45, Tirana 57: Tirana leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Siem Reap 88, Tirana 42: Siem Reap leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Siem Reap 42, Tirana 58: Tirana leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Siem Reap 40, Tirana 62: Tirana leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Siem Reap 55, Tirana 64: Tirana leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Siem Reap 35, Tirana 40: Tirana leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Siem Reap 30, Tirana 54: Tirana leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Siem Reap 38, Tirana 32: Siem Reap leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Siem Reap 88, Tirana 76: Siem Reap leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Siem Reap and Tirana are level on 32.
Wellness & relaxation. Siem Reap 60, Tirana 27: Siem Reap leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Siem Reap and Tirana.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

Tirana
49match

Wins on beaches and getting around 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

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Siem ReapTirana

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. Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSiem ReapTirana
Official languageKhmerAlbanian
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Lek (ALL)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118112
Elevation18 m110 m
Main airportSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSiem ReapTirana
City population147,866389,323
People per km²-9,314
Museums within 10 km611
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Siem Reap or Tirana 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.