Holidays to Cambodia

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is petite for a Southeast Asian capital city: its 2.4 million inhabitants are a fraction of Bangkok's 11 million. But fewer people mean more room to observe, explore and absorb.

At the confluence of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers, the city blends faded colonial architecture with tuk tuks, independent shops and craft breweries. The French legacy is evident in buildings like the post office at Place de la Poste, its white and yellow neo-classical design a well-preserved example of Cambodia's former era. This European imprint coexists with enduring symbols of Khmer tradition and reverence for royalty and religion: the gold steepled Royal Palace remains the official residence of Cambodia's king, with its neighbouring Silver Pagoda built when Buddhism was at its peak in 1892.

Yet the city is defined more by what came after. The lotus-shaped Independence Monument commemorates Cambodia’s break from French rule in 1953 and just a few kilometres away, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum bears witness to the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge era. But Phnom Penh doesn’t feel like a place encumbered by the past. Far from it. New bars, independent shops, hotels and experiences are popping up faster and faster – it's a city moving forwards at pace.

While the city itself is reason enough to stay a day or two at least, it's a popular port for Mekong River cruises. Whether that's setting sail on a multi-day luxury cruise, vising floating villages and meeting silversmiths, silk weavers, potters and palm-sugar experts at work, or, simply joining a boat trip for the evening, watching the sunset over the Phnom Penh skyline, with a cold beer in hand.

But what makes Phnom Penh particularly special is that this small city is really the only Cambodian city – Siem Reap, Battambang and Sihanoukville are larger town, but none are quite big enough an urban hub to count as a city. Cambodia is largely rural and undeveloped: only 25% of the Cambodian population lives in urban centres, compared with over 50% in Thailand and 70% in Malaysia.

Siem Reap

Best known as the gateway to the UNESCO world heritage site, the Angkor Wat temple complex, Siem Reap is Cambodia's second largest urban hub. But the Angkor Wat ancient temples aren't the only reason to add it to your itinerary – it's got something to cater for everyone. If you want to drink with visitors and locals alike, Pub Street is your spot. If you want to sample Cambodia's most delicious dishes, there are farm-to-fork restaurants, French haute cuisine inspired plates, and street markets where you can try anything from grilled fish on a stick to chicken wings glazed in palm sugar. If you want to visit quieter communities, then you can visit villages just a short drive away. And, if you like to mix a little adrenaline with your history, there's always the zipline over Angkor Wat...

Battambang

This former colonial outpost is now at the forefront of Cambodia’s arts revival. Its residents are busy breathing new life into traditional crafts and contemporary art forms that were almost lost for good under the Khmer Rouge. Among the many little galleries, art cafes, studios and trendy exhibition spaces is the Phare Ponleu Selpak School, a world-class institution providing education to underprivileged young people in all areas of the arts – from performing arts to graphic design, animation, sculpture and music. You only need to catch a show at the brilliant Phare Circus (one of the school’s projects in Siem Reap and Battambang) to see the impact it has had on the lives of young Cambodians – and it’s only one of many, many such organisations taking social challenges into their own hands in Cambodia today.

Cambodia's countryside

Much of Cambodia is rural, and in this bucolic world of palm-fringed dirt roads and paddy fields, life is still timelessly traditional and devoutly religious. And yet as conservative as rural Cambodia can be, it’s certainly far from austere. All you need to do is head out on a bike or a hike to find yourself on an adventure – meeting banana leaf paper makers outside Battambang, cycling past fields in Kampot, farmed using water buffalo, and snacking on deep-fried tarantulas (we dare you to try)!

Tonlé Sap Lake

Tonlé Sap is Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, the source of 500,000 tons of fish per year.

In September the lake is at height following the monsoon season. It's the ideal time to visit and kayak across, stopping at a family home for a picnic, in a village that seems to float (in reality, these floating villages are on wooden stilts, revealed when water levels drop again at the beginning of the year).

Cambodia's temples

Cambodia’s national symbol, the jewel in its crown, the number-one reason most people visit Cambodia: the temples of Angkor. Where do we even begin? Locked in their never-ending embrace with the jungle, the 800-year-old ruins of the Khmer Empire are one of those rare places that don’t just live up to their hype, they knock it out of the park. Relics of a civilisation that was once the greatest on earth, these are temples like you’ve never seen them before: vast, sprawling and awe-inspiring in the truest sense of the word.

There are three big names that every tourist ticks off on their visit to Angkor and Angkor Wat is the titan – in fact, it’s the biggest single religious monument in the world. The other two are Bayon, famous for its giant stone faces and Ta Prohm, AKA the “Tomb Raider Temple”. They’re the “big three” for a reason, and we’d never suggest skipping them – but some of our favourite sites aren’t half as grand.

With literally thousands of ruins in the Angkor Archaeological Park alone you could spend a month here and not see anything twice, so be sure to combine your A-sides with some of the overlooked, underrated, and really rather magical B-side delights. Tucked in the jungle, away from most tourists, they tend to be much more atmospheric than their busier neighbours, and it’s often impossible to tell whether the strangler fig and silk-cotton trees are tearing them down or holding them up (in most cases we suspect it’s a bit of both).

Cambodia beaches

Think of Southeast Asian beaches and many think of Thailand before Cambodia. And this can work in your favour – Cambodia's islands and beaches are that much quieter (for now).

Cambodia's beaches are calm, clean and quite frankly, heavenly. On the mainland, beaches around Sihanoukville, such as Otres Beach, have suffered from the overdevelopment of the port city, but the islands remain remote enough to maintain their paradisical status.

Koh Rong is perhaps its most famous island – a forty-minute boat trip from the mainland, with its aptly named Long Beach stretching to seven kilometres of powder-white sand. There's snorkelling and dense rainforest alongside the resorts that strike the balance between natural beauty and easy-to-reach restaurants, hotels and even a bit of nightlife. Koh Rong Samloem features as one of our top five Cambodian beaches, as does Koh Krabey.