VacationSelector
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway
Rice terraces and palms at Tegallalang, Ubud
UbudRice terraces and palms at Tegallalang

Photos: Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License; Ubud by Pinterpandai, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Siem Reap or Ubud?

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
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Ubud for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Ubud’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, Ubud 38: Ubud leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Siem Reap 45, Ubud 60: Ubud leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Siem Reap 88, Ubud 58: Siem Reap leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Siem Reap 42, Ubud 15: Siem Reap leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Siem Reap 40, Ubud 80: Ubud leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Siem Reap 55, Ubud 72: Ubud leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Siem Reap 35, Ubud 48: Ubud leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Siem Reap 30, Ubud 10: Siem Reap leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Siem Reap 38, Ubud 52: Ubud leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Siem Reap 88, Ubud 80: Siem Reap leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Siem Reap 32, Ubud 47: Ubud leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Siem Reap 60, Ubud 96: Ubud leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Siem Reap and Ubud.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Ubud
Best match
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness 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

Ubud in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
110 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Siem ReapUbud

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.

Ubud's temperatures are measured 29 km from the centre, at Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai.

Ubud's station stands 209 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Ubud 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.

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. Ubud: 1991-2020 normals, Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai (29 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSiem ReapUbud
Official languageKhmerIndonesian
CurrencyRiel (KHR)Rupiah (IDR)
SocketsACG230 V, 50 HzCF50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 117, ambulance 119, fire 118112
Elevation18 m210 m
Main airportSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinationsDenpasar I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)29 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year21 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSiem ReapUbud
City population147,866-
Museums within 10 km614
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Ubud 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.