VacationSelector
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway
El Castillo above the beach at Tulum, Tulum
TulumEl Castillo above the beach at Tulum

Photos: Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License; Tulum by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Siem Reap or Tulum?

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
  • prices
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Tulum for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tulum’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, Tulum 88: Tulum leads by 83 points.
Food & drink. Siem Reap 45, Tulum 52: Tulum leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Siem Reap 88, Tulum 30: Siem Reap leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Siem Reap 42, Tulum 60: Tulum leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Siem Reap 40, Tulum 76: Tulum leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Siem Reap 55, Tulum 68: Tulum leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Siem Reap 35, Tulum 60: Tulum leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Siem Reap 30, Tulum 25: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Siem Reap 38, Tulum 35: Siem Reap leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Siem Reap 88, Tulum 30: Siem Reap leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Siem Reap 32, Tulum 15: Siem Reap leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Siem Reap 60, Tulum 85: Tulum leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Siem Reap and Tulum.

Your match

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

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Tulum
Best match
52match

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 seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Tulum in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
116 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Siem ReapTulum

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.

Tulum 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. Tulum: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureSiem ReapTulum
Official languageKhmerSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118911
Elevation18 m5 m
Main airportSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinationsFelipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport Tulum (TQO)21 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureSiem ReapTulum
City population147,86633,374
Museums within 10 km60
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Siem Reap or Tulum 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. 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.