Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Phnom Penh is from January, February, December. — consistent weather climate
⛈Hot & rainy
| Score | 88 | 84 | 71 | 55 | 39 | 48 | 43 | 42 | 32 | 36 | 63 | 86 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Hot & dry | Hot & dry | Hot & dry | Hot & dry | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & dry |
| Temperature | 23–31°C | 23–33°C | 25–34°C | 26–35°C | 26–34°C | 26–33°C | 25–32°C | 25–32°C | 25–31°C | 24–30°C | 24–31°C | 23–30°C |
| Feels like | 26–35°C | 26–36°C | 29–39°C | 31–40°C | 32–40°C | 31–38°C | 30–37°C | 30–38°C | 30–37°C | 29–37°C | 28–36°C | 26–34°C |
| Precipitation | 18mm 3 days | 14mm 2 days | 37mm 5 days | 95mm 10 days | 177mm 17 days | 161mm 16 days | 189mm 19 days | 209mm 19 days | 297mm 26 days | 306mm 28 days | 152mm 15 days | 40mm 6 days |
| Sunshine | 10.4h ☀︎ 90% | 11.0h ☀︎ 93% | 11.4h ☀︎ 94% | 11.1h ☀︎ 89% | 7.3h ☀︎ 57% | 6.2h ☀︎ 49% | 5.4h ☀︎ 43% | 6.0h ☀︎ 48% | 5.1h ☀︎ 42% | 6.0h ☀︎ 51% | 8.2h ☀︎ 70% | 8.9h ☀︎ 78% |
| Wind | E · 14 km/h | SE · 15 km/h | S · 15 km/h | S · 14 km/h | S · 14 km/h | SW · 15 km/h | SW · 16 km/h | SW · 16 km/h | SW · 14 km/h | N · 12 km/h | NE · 14 km/h | NE · 16 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 67% | 62% | 63% | 69% | 77% | 79% | 80% | 80% | 85% | 85% | 80% | 72% |
| Day length | 11.5h | 11.8h | 12.1h | 12.4h | 12.7h | 12.8h | 12.7h | 12.5h | 12.2h | 11.9h | 11.6h | 11.5h |
Cambodia's biggest festival fills Phnom Penh's riverfront with colorful dragon boat races on the Tonle Sap and Mekong ri…
Conventional itineraries point you toward the breezy cool of January, but Phnom Penh actually reveals its true character in March, when tourism thins out and the city's frantic, riverside energy belongs entirely to itself again.
Every glossy brochure will tell you to land in Phnom Penh between December and January, when the tropical sun softens and a rare dry breeze drifts off the Mekong. What they leave out is that the city gets choked with tour coaches, palace queues stretch down the boulevard, and you end up sharing the riverfront promenade with busloads of people clutching bottled water. March brings heavier heat, yes, but it also brings the city back to life. As foreign foot traffic drops to its lowest ebb of the dry months, the capital stops performing for outsiders and settles into an unhurried, authentic rhythm. If you can handle an afternoon pause indoors, March offers an intimate glimpse into Cambodia's administrative and cultural heart that winter simply cannot buy.
March demands a simple adjustment of your daily clock, and in exchange, it gives you the city without the varnish. The daytime air settles around you like a warm blanket, with high afternoon temperatures pushing past thirty degrees and feeling hotter still when the sun reflects off the concrete plazas. But it is virtually rainless, soaked in reliable light, and blissfully deserted by the holiday crowds.
Because the tour groups have vanished, you can ascend the grassy hill of Wat Phnom in the early morning stillness, watching locals offer lotus blossoms without jostling for elbow room. The wide riverside along Sisowath Quay becomes a slow-moving neighborhood stroll rather than an obstacle course. You learn to live like a local: wake early to wander the street markets while the morning is crisp, retreat into air-conditioned cafes or shaded museums when the midday heat turns oppressive, and re-emerge at four in the afternoon when golden light strikes the spires of the Royal Palace and the river breeze finally stirs.
December and January offer the gentlest weather on paper. The skies stay clean and blue, rainfall is practically nonexistent, and evening strolls along the confluence of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers are cool enough that you will never break a sweat. It is comfortable, predictable, and remarkably easy to navigate.
That ease comes at an obvious cost. December draws peak international arrivals, and January sustains the pressure. Hotel rates spike, tuk-tuk drivers hold out for inflated fares, and the tranquil courtyards of the historic core echo with tour megaphones. By February, the temperature starts to climb noticeably, yet the tour buses keep rolling. It is an undeniably painless introduction to Cambodia, but it lacks the spontaneity and breathing room you find just a few weeks later.
April is Phnom Penh at its absolute fiercest. The pavement radiates stored heat, the air grows dense and immobile, and apparent temperatures regularly hit forty degrees. Midday walking is not merely uncomfortable; it is fundamentally ill-advised. Life retreats behind drawn blinds, under whirring ceiling fans, or beneath the thick canopy of trees near the Bassac River.
May brings the first heavy cracks of thunder, breaking the stifling atmospheric pressure with sudden, drenching downpours that turn low-lying streets into shallow canals. The showers rarely last all day, but when they hit, the sheer volume of water overwhelms gutters and brings traffic to an absolute standstill. If you travel now, plan your movements around dawn and dusk, and keep your schedule light enough to surrender entirely to the afternoon storm.
From June through October, the southwest monsoon reigns supreme. The city is cloaked in deep tropical green, but the skies are dominated by slate-gray clouds. September and October mark the wettest stretch of the calendar, dumping hundreds of millimeters of rain in violent, torrential cloudbursts that make open-air exploration a gamble.
While July and August see brief lulls between storms, Phnom Penh during the late monsoon is defined by dampness. Sidewalks are slippery, humidity clings relentlessly, and spontaneous wandering is constantly interrupted by sheets of vertical water. Unless your idea of travel involves watching dramatic river storms from a covered balcony, this is the season to avoid.
November is a wild card. The rains abruptly recede, the air clears, and the city undergoes a sudden surge of human energy. Everything culminates with Bon Om Touk, the Water Festival, which celebrates the unique reversing flow of the Tonle Sap river where it joins the Mekong.
For three days, millions of Cambodians from rural provinces pour into the capital to cheer on brightly painted dragon boats racing across the churning water. Sisowath Quay turns into a sea of cheering spectators, night markets sprout across every intersection, and fireworks illuminate the riverfront. It is chaotic, deafening, and intensely crowded. You will not find quiet cultural contemplation in November, but if you want to witness the nation celebrating on an epic scale, there is nothing else like it.