Things to do in Phnom Penh
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Phnom Penh
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, coolest and driest, peak season for boutique hotels and golf.
Hot season, sightseeing becomes mornings and evenings only.
Green turn, afternoon rains, softer prices and lush golf courses.
Wet season, fullest rivers and muddiest island lanes, best for slow travellers.
What's on
- Bon Om Touk (Water Festival) November, usually 3 days on the full moon, projected 23-25 November 2026
Longboat racing on the Tonle Sap in front of the palace, illuminated floats and fireworks, the citys biggest festival.
- Khmer New Year (Chaul Chnam Thmey) 14-16 April
Pagoda visits, sand stupas and water splashing centred on Wat Phnom, while many residents return to their provinces.
- Pchum Ben 15 days culminating usually late September or early October
Ancestors festival filling pagodas at dawn with food offerings, with some businesses closing as staff travel home.
- Royal Ploughing Ceremony May, date varies by year
Ancient ceremony in the palace quarter marking the start of the planting season.
Best things to do in Phnom Penh
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
The former S-21 prison is the most important history site in Cambodia and the essential first understanding of the country.
Choeung Ek Genocidal Center
The Killing Fields audio tour pairs with S-21 to complete the story, in a peaceful setting that makes it land harder.
Royal Palace
A working royal palace and the Silver Pagoda in one compound, and the architectural headline of the city.
National Museum of Cambodia
The worlds largest Khmer art collection in a beautiful courtyard building, and the decoder ring for Angkor.
Wat Phnom Daun Penh
The founding shrine on the hill the city is named for, best as part of a palace quarter morning.
Central Market
A great Art Deco market hall from 1937 with a food court where locals eat, worth it for the building alone.
Tuol Tom Poung Market
The Russian Market is the best souvenir hunting in the city, with a food section locals rate for kuy teav.
Sosoro Museum
A modern interactive museum of Cambodian money and economy that visitors consistently enjoy more than expected.
Where to stay in Phnom Penh
Riverside / Daun Penh
first trip, sightseeing on foot
Walk to the palace, museums and promenade, with the best hotels in or beside the quarter.
BKK1
families, longer stays, calm nights
Embassy quarter with tree lined streets, the densest cafe scene and the safest feeling walks after dark.
Tuol Tom Poung
return visitors, value, local flavour
The Russian Market neighbourhood with the best cheap eating in the city outside your door.
Tonle Bassac
nightlife done well, resort space
Home to Bassac Lane on Street 308 and the Sofitels big grounds, south of the monument.
Think twice about
- Streets 104, 110, 130 and 136 hostess bar strips
The sex tourism core off the riverfront, with touts, drink spiking and robbery reports. Stay two streets back at the same price.
- Riverfront blocks after midnight
The promenade thins to street homelessness, drug use and bag snatching risk late at night. Enjoy it in busy hours and tuk tuk home late.
- Train station and Boeung Kak area after dark
Poorly lit, deserted at night and flagged as sketchy after dark, with nothing a visitor needs as a base.
- Chroy Changvar peninsula as a sightseeing base
Big resort hotels across the bridge, but traffic over the bridge taxes every meal and sight. Fine for a pool day, wrong for a first visit.
Best restaurants in Phnom Penh
Malis Restaurant
The essential Khmer fine dining table, credited with reviving lost Cambodian recipes in a garden villa.
Topaz Restaurant
French fine dining in a garden dining room, the capitals special occasion table for over twenty years.
Khéma La Poste
A French cafe bakery and deli in the old post office, famous for its free flow breakfast.
Friends the Restaurant
A training restaurant for local youth serving genuinely good sharing plates in a garden room by the museum.
Eleven One Kitchen TTP
A plastic free garden kitchen by the Russian Market serving the best value Khmer dishes in the city.
David's Restaurant Homemade Noodles
A family noodle house where noodles are hand pulled in front of you and the dumplings are the co headline.
LaBaab Restaurant
Modern takes on Cambodian countryside dishes in a CBD dining room where local professionals lunch.
Khmer Surin Restaurant
The BKK Khmer classic in a villa garden, the mid tier family style dinner residents recommend.
Best bars in Phnom Penh
Sora Sky Bar
The highest sunset cocktail in the city, on a 37th floor terrace above the river confluence.
Outdoor things to do in Phnom Penh
Vattanac Golf Resort - East Course
A Faldo championship course with Khmer monument replicas, and the best golf round in Cambodia.
Garden City Golf Club
The most convenient quality round from the centre, an IMG managed parkland course with strong conditioning.
Chhun On Golf Resort - Lake Course
The new PGA branded tournament course challenging Vattanac as the capitals top golf test.
Grand Phnom Penh Golf Club
A private Nicklaus Design members course, manicured and quiet, arranged through a concierge or operator.
City Golf Cambodia
A 9 hole city course that gives beginners and short stays a real round without the resort green fee.
Cambo Cruise
A sunset cruise to the confluence of the Mekong, Tonle Sap and Bassac is the essential river hour.
Koh Dach
Cycling flat Mekong island lanes past silk weaving households is the best active half day from the capital.
Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center
A working rescue centre for over 100 species, strongest on the Wildlife Alliance behind the scenes day.
Best hotels in Phnom Penh
Rosewood Phnom Penh
The modern luxury flagship high in Vattanac Tower, with river views and the Sora rooftop bar.
Raffles Hotel Le Royal
The grand 1929 colonial hotel with two pools and the Elephant Bar, the most Phnom Penh address in the city.
Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra
A resort in the city with big grounds and pools, the luxury pick for families who want space.
Plantation Urban Resort & Spa
A garden boutique resort by the palace with the citys best saltwater pool, and the best all round stay.
Palace Gate Hotel & Resort
A restored colonial headquarters beside the Royal Palace with five star hardware at mid range rates.
The Pavilion
A private 1920s villa hotel with a lush pool near the palace, long the couples favourite in the city.
PATIO Hotel & Urban Resort
BKK1s reliable modern boutique with a rooftop pool and the cafe quarter outside the door.
Mad Monkey Hostel Phnom Penh
The social hostel benchmark in Cambodia, with a bar and tours that solve the solo company question.
Is Phnom Penh expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $20 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $50 a person |
| Splurge | $150 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Vattanac Golf Resort - East Course: a few days ahead
- Garden City Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Chhun On Golf Resort - Lake Course: a few days ahead
- Grand Phnom Penh Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center: weeks ahead
- Rosewood Phnom Penh: weeks ahead
- Raffles Hotel Le Royal: weeks ahead
- Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra: weeks ahead
- Book Malis and Topaz for dinner in high season.
- Book the Plantation and Pavilion early from November to February.
- Book the Wildlife Alliance behind the scenes day and weekend tee times ahead.
Is Phnom Penh safe?
- Bag snatching from motos is the main risk, wear bags cross body on the building side and keep phones from the road edge.
- Carry a passport copy and leave the original in the room safe.
- Roads are the real hazard, assume no vehicle will yield.
- Never leave a drink unattended in the bar strips.
Phnom Penh travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The riverfront hostess bar strips on Streets 104, 110, 130 and 136.
- The palace is closed script that steers you to a gem shop.
- Sunset cruise VIP upsells at the quay for the same river and sunset.
- Aeon Mall presented as an attraction, and one day everything tours that compress the city.
Getting around Phnom Penh: public transport and more
- Use Grab and PassApp for priced rides, short central hops run about 1 to 3 dollars.
- Hire a tuk tuk by the day for S-21 and Choeung Ek, or a car in hot season.
- Walk only within the palace quarter, inner BKK1 and the promenade, mainly morning and early evening.
Who Phnom Penh suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Phnom Penh your trip
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