Best time to visit Phnom Penh

Cambodia · Southeast Asia

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Phnom Penh

Tap a month for its page

Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in Jan or Dec — 31C max, 2 rainy days. Feb is the next best.

Dry season: Dec–Mar, 6 or fewer rainy days a month.

Plan this trip

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too.

Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Flights

Choose where you fly from

Where to stay

Things to do

Car hire

Travel insurance

SafetyWing Ad

Mobile data (eSIM)

Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.

Things to do in Phnom Penh

The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek This is where the Khmer Rouge killed many thousands of their victims during their…
The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda The King of Cambodia still lives here, but much of the palace is open to the public.
Wat Phnom This hilltop pagoda marks the spot where the city was founded…
The National Museum of Cambodia Contains an excellent collection of art from Cambodia's "golden age" of Angkor…
Wat Ounalom Dates back to 1422 and is one of the five original founding monasteries of Phnom Penh.
Wat Botum Historically, the wat was favoured by royalty.
Phnom Tamao Zoological Park and Wildlife Rescue Center (PTWRC) This is the largest zoo in Cambodia…

Tours and tickets in Phnom Penh

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Phnom Penh), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	31°	1d	66%	10.4h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual
Feb	33°	1d	64%	10.9h	okbusy	busier than usual
Mar	34°	3d	65%	11.2h	avoid	34C max, 3 rainy days
Apr	34°	6d	70%	11.1h	avoid	extreme heat: 13 days over 35C
May	33°	14d	79%	9.9h	avoid	33C max, 14 rainy days
Jun	33°	12d	80%	9.3h	avoid	33C max, 12 rainy days
Jul	32°	14d	81%	8.2h	avoid	32C max, 14 rainy days
Aug	32°	15d	81%	8.9h	avoid	32C max, 15 rainy days
Sep	31°	20d	85%	8.0h	avoid	monsoon: 20 rainy days, 310mm
Oct	31°	19d	85%	8.7h	avoid	monsoon: 19 rainy days, 316mm
Nov	30°	9d	80%	9.6h	okbusy	busier than usual
Dec	31°	2d	71%	10.1h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at the centre, 23 km from the airport (KTI): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest from November to February; quietest in June and October.

Then and now

Phnom Penh's December days now average 30.6°C, 1.2°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 2 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	31.1°	32.8°	34.4°	34.8°	33.0°	31.9°	32.0°	31.8°	31.1°	30.2°	29.5°	29.4°
2017–26	31.2°	32.9°	34.1°	34.4°	33.3°	32.6°	31.9°	32.0°	30.9°	30.6°	30.5°	30.6°
Change	+0.2°	+0.2°	-0.2°	-0.3°	+0.3°	+0.7°	-0.1°	+0.3°	-0.2°	+0.3°	+1.0°	+1.2°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

How far Phnom Penh is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type A and C and G plugs at 230 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the Riel. UK Foreign Office: avoid all but essential travel to parts. Everything for Cambodia: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — US dollars and riel are both used, and change often comes in riel; dollar coins are not taken. Only upmarket places, supermarkets, restaurants and hotels take cards, usually with a 3% surcharge. Or use the National Bank's Bakong Tourists app: link a Visa card or Mastercard, top it up and scan the KHQR codes that shops show.
UPI, for visitors from India — Works at KHQR merchants across Cambodia, from restaurants and shops to tourist sites: scan the KHQR code with your UPI app.

Getting around Phnom Penh

Apps — Rides: Grab. Maps: Google Maps. Grab books cars as well as tuk-tuks and remorques, the last two at a fixed fare set upfront; with a tuk-tuk hailed in the street, agree the fare before you get in.

Phnom Penh's main streets are in good shape. Some smaller streets and footpaths are rutted and potholed, clogged with garbage, stagnant water, parked motorbikes, sleeping people, and building materials. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Phnom Penh, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Open in Google MapsPhnom Penh on the map

Help

Emergency — police 117 · ambulance 119 · fire 118. In Siem Reap, the tourist police office is next to the ticket booth for the Angkor temples.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (17)

Phnom Penh in pictures

2016 Phnom Penh, Pałac Królewski, Srebrna Pagoda (02) — i

Marcin Konsek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

2016 Phnom Penh, Wat Phnom (07) — i

Marcin Konsek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Royal Palace, Phnom Penh Cambodia 1 — i

Hanay, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Phnom Penh is like

Phnom Penh, at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap Rivers, is the capital of Cambodia and its largest city. Having been liberated in the late 1970s from Khmer Rouge oppression, the city has exploded in activity in the 21st century and now a thumping little metropolis, small at heart but big in vibe. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Historic colonial architecture was limited to start with and has largely decayed. The Grand Post Office Building, Central Market and Raffles Le Royal Hotel are notable exceptions. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Mekong River Cruises. Boats leave every evening for a river cruise. Many provide snacks or dinners at sunset. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: Techo International Airport (KTI IATA). The new airport of Phnom Penh, which replaced the former Phnom Penh International Airport from September 2025. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe: As in any big city, be wary when walking alone at night. Daytime phone and bag snatching is not uncommon. More on Wikivoyage
Staying healthy: As in most developing world countries, avoiding cold, uncooked food is desirable to prevent stomach upsets. Salads are also suspect at times. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Phnom Penh, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Phnom Penh

Also in Cambodia

Angkor Wat best Jan, Feb, Dec

Nearby

Kind of place

Phnom Penh is in Cambodia, Southeast Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book through one, at no extra cost to you. That does not affect the scores on this page, which are computed from climate and fare data before any link is built.