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Not a paid list and not our opinion — this is pulled live from guest scores across five regions, one standout property from each, so it spans the country rather than clustering in one city. It changes as the reviews do.
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Twelve places worth building a trip around, from the temple plain to the Cardamoms.
Looking for somewhere specific? Browse all 25 provinces and the capital →
Cambodia received 6,700,125 international visitors in 2024, a rise of 22.9% on the year before and the clearest sign yet that arrivals have recovered from the pandemic collapse. Domestic travel is larger still: 22.5 million Cambodian visitors moved between regions in the same year, alongside roughly four million foreign visitors travelling internally.
The detail that surprises people is how they arrive. Only about a third come by air — 64.2% enter overland or by water, mostly across the Thai and Vietnamese borders. That is why Poipet, Bavet and Cham Yeam matter as much to Cambodian tourism as the three international airports do.
It also explains the shape of the source markets. Thailand and Vietnam together account for over half of all arrivals, much of it regional and short-stay. The long-haul markets — the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Japan — are individually small but stay longer and spend more, and they are the ones that fill Siem Reap's hotels between November and February.
Hotel occupancy nationally ran at 77.8% in 2024, up sharply from the years either side of the pandemic and back near the levels of the late 2010s.
When to visit →| Country | Visitors |
|---|---|
| Thailand | 2,146,674 |
| Vietnam | 1,340,587 |
| China | 848,952 |
| Laos | 334,448 |
| United States | 214,529 |
| South Korea | 192,305 |
| Indonesia | 166,795 |
| France | 131,738 |
| United Kingdom | 115,148 |
| Japan | 112,718 |
Source: Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia Tourism Statistics Report, December 2024.
Cambodians will tell you that the country's story did not begin at Angkor and did not end with the twentieth century. Both halves of that are worth taking seriously.
The lower Mekong held organised states from the first century, when the polity Chinese sources called Funan traded with India and Rome from ports in what is now Takeo province. Its successor Chenla built the brick towers of Sambor Prei Kuk in the early seventh century — three hundred years before Angkor Wat, and now a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right.
The Khmer Empire proper begins in 802, when Jayavarman II declared independence from Java on Phnom Kulen and had himself consecrated universal monarch. Over the next six centuries his successors built the largest pre-industrial urban complex in the world: a hydraulic city of reservoirs, canals and temple-mountains supporting perhaps three quarters of a million people.
Angkor Wat was raised by Suryavarman II in the first half of the twelfth century. After the Cham sacked the capital in 1177, Jayavarman VII rebuilt it on an extraordinary scale — Angkor Thom, the Bayon, Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, and a network of hospitals and rest houses running out to the edges of the empire.
Decline came slowly, then quickly. Ayutthaya sacked Angkor in 1431, the court moved south, and the Khmer kingdom spent four centuries squeezed between Siam and Vietnam before accepting a French protectorate in 1863. Independence came in 1953.
What followed is the part every visitor arrives already knowing something about: the Sangkum years and their remarkable modernist architecture, then war, then the Khmer Rouge period of 1975–79, in which perhaps a quarter of the population died. The civil war did not formally end until 1998.
The recovery since has been fast enough to be disorienting. Angkor was inscribed by UNESCO in 1992 with the site still mined; today Cambodia has four World Heritage sites and receives more visitors in a year than it had citizens in 1979.
Explore province by province →The earliest known state of the lower Mekong, trading with India and Rome. Angkor Borei in Takeo is among its centres.
Ishanapura, capital of Chenla — brick towers in the forest of Kampong Thom. UNESCO-listed in 2017.
Jayavarman II is consecrated universal monarch on Phnom Kulen.
Suryavarman II builds the largest religious monument on earth.
Angkor Thom, the Bayon and Ta Prohm rise after the Cham sack of 1177.
Ayutthaya sacks the capital; the court moves south, eventually to Oudong.
Norodom signs the protectorate treaty; the capital moves to Phnom Penh in 1866.
Sovereignty regained under Norodom Sihanouk, marked by the Independence Monument.
The Khmer Rouge period. Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek are its principal memorials.
UNTAC-supervised elections; the monarchy is restored under a new constitution.
Listed by UNESCO while much of the park was still mined.
The win-win policy brings the last Khmer Rouge holdouts in. Commemorated in Phnom Penh.
Preah Vihear, then Sambor Prei Kuk, then Koh Ker.
Arrivals up 22.9% year on year, with occupancy back near 78%.
Seven ways to build a trip. Most people mix two or three — temples and coast is the classic combination, but the river and the highlands are where the country stops feeling crowded.
Angkor is the obvious one, and it earns it. But Sambor Prei Kuk predates it by three centuries, Koh Ker was briefly the capital, Banteay Chhmar is half-collapsed and nearly empty, and Preah Vihear sits on a cliff edge with a 200-kilometre view.
Siem Reap · Kampong Thom · Preah Vihear · Banteay MeancheyKoh Rong for the party and the bioluminescence, Koh Rong Sanloem for reading a book on Saracen Bay, Koh Tonsay for a bungalow with no electricity. The mainland beaches at Otres are quieter than their reputation suggests.
Preah Sihanouk · Kep · Koh KongCrab fried with green Kampot peppercorns at the Kep crab market is the dish worth planning a day around. Add fish amok, kuy teav for breakfast, and an afternoon in the Russian Market food court.
Kep · Kampot · Phnom PenhWalk with retired elephants in Mondulkiri, look for Irrawaddy dolphins at Kampi, watch giant ibis at Tmatboey, or trek the Cardamoms from a river lodge in Koh Kong. Choose operators that refuse riding and keep their distance.
Mondulkiri · Kratie · Preah Vihear · Koh KongTuol Sleng and Choeung Ek are difficult and essential, and best done in one morning with nothing demanding afterwards. Anlong Veng and the Win-Win Memorial cover how the conflict actually ended.
Phnom Penh · Oddar MeancheyThe Tonlé Sap reverses direction twice a year and quadruples in size. Its stilted and floating villages — Kompong Phluk, Kompong Khleang, Kampong Luong — are the best window onto how much of Cambodia actually lives.
Siem Reap · Kampong Chhnang · PursatPhare, the Cambodian circus, is the best live performance in the country and trains its performers at an arts school in Battambang. Add silk weaving on Koh Dach and silversmithing in the Russian Market.
Siem Reap · Battambang · KandalOrdered roughly by how many people do them, not by how good they are. The bottom half of this list is where the country stops feeling like a package tour.
Everybody does it and it is still worth it. Buy the pass after 5 pm the day before to skip the queue — and come back at 4 pm, when the western face is properly lit and the crowd has gone.
Siem ReapAround two hundred serene stone faces on thirty-seven towers, at the exact centre of Angkor Thom. Go before eight or after four; midday flattens the carving completely.
Bayon TempleDeliberately left in the grip of silk-cotton and strangler fig when the rest of Angkor was cleared. Enter from the east and work anticlockwise against the coach flow.
Ta ProhmDifficult and essential. Tuol Sleng first, then the killing fields — that is the order the prisoners went. Take the audio guide and plan nothing demanding afterwards.
Choeung EkPulled live from baskets under the jetty and stir-fried with peppercorns still on the stem. One of the great regional dishes of South-East Asia, and worth building a day around.
KepStill the king's residence. Five thousand solid silver floor tiles, a life-size gold Buddha set with diamonds, and a strict dress code that is enforced at the gate.
Royal PalaceSaracen Bay for reading a book, Lazy Beach over the hill for the sunset, M'Pai Bay if you want company. No roads, no ATMs — bring cash.
Koh Rong SanloemMillions of free-tailed bats stream from a cliff cave every evening around dusk, in a ribbon that takes twenty minutes to pass. The killing caves on the same hill are a sober counterpoint.
BattambangAcrobatics and storytelling by graduates of a Battambang arts NGO. The best live performance in the country. Book a day ahead in high season.
Siem ReapThirty-two kilometres of switchbacks to an abandoned 1920s French hill station, a derelict casino and a small Catholic church, usually wrapped in mist.
KampotA Mekong island opposite Kratie: pomelo orchards, a floating Vietnamese village, homestays, and a ring road you can loop in two hours.
KratieThe credible projects have retired their animals from logging and riding work. You walk with the herd and help at bathing time. Nobody rides — if an operator offers, leave.
MondulkiriA near-perfect circle formed by volcanic activity around 700,000 years ago, forest to the waterline, managed by the local Tampuan community.
RatanakiriKampot pepper carries a protected geographical indication. The plantations east of town run free tours and tastings, and the difference between red, black and white is worth learning.
KampotSeventh-century brick towers in dipterocarp forest — the Chenla capital of Ishanapura, three hundred years older than Angkor, UNESCO-listed in 2017, and usually empty.
Kampong ThomAn 800-metre axis of gateways along a promontory of the Dangrek mountains, 525 metres up, with the whole Cambodian plain below. Check border-area access before you go.
Preah VihearA huge Jayavarman VII complex with Bayon-style face towers, mostly collapsed and barely visited. The village runs one of Cambodia's best community tourism programmes.
Banteay MeancheyBoat-access-only lodges below the waterfall, in the Cardamoms. No road noise, no wi-fi, and the best chance in the country of a serious multi-day jungle trip.
Koh KongA critically endangered Mekong population numbering only in the dozens. Choose an operator that cuts the engine and keeps its distance — and accept you might not see one.
KratieBriefly the capital of the empire in the tenth century, and unlike anything at Angkor. Cambodia's fourth UNESCO site, inscribed in 2023.
Preah VihearFunan-era sites five hundred years older than Angkor, reached by boat across the floodplain in the wet season. The sculpture found here defines an entire early style of Khmer art.
TakeoLarge circular embankments in red basalt soil, Neolithic and Bronze Age, over two thousand years old and among the least understood sites in the country. No signage, no visitor centre.
Tbong KhmumRebuilt by hand across the Mekong every dry season and dismantled when the river rises. A ferry takes over in the wet months.
Kampong ChamCambodia has a well-documented problem with orphanage tourism. Most children in these institutions have at least one living parent, and visitor demand has been shown to drive family separation. Reputable operators no longer offer these visits. If you want to help, support community-based tourism and family-strengthening organisations instead.
Phnom Penh gets its grand colonial hotel, on the site it still occupies near Wat Phnom.
Built from 1929 to designs by the French architect and planner Ernest Hébrard, its opening delayed by the Depression. Siem Reap's first proper hotel.
The Grand Hotel is renovated by Henri Chatel and air-conditioned rooms are added.
New Khmer Architecture reshapes the country under Vann Molyvann and his contemporaries. Sihanoukville's Independence Hotel is completed in 1964.
Hotels are emptied. The Grand Hotel is stripped of its furnishings and occupied.
The Grand Hotel reopens after the Paris Peace Accords, largely for journalists and UN staff.
Raffles buys the Grand Hotel for US$30 million in 1994 and reopens it, restored, on 30 December 1997.
Siem Reap's room stock multiplies as temple visitor numbers climb year after year.
Small design-led hotels spread through Kampot, Kep and Battambang while a casino construction boom transforms Sihanoukville.
Borders close and much of the sector shutters. Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport opens in 2023.
From six-dollar dorm beds to restored colonial suites, counted live from our accommodation feed.
Cambodia's hospitality industry has been destroyed and rebuilt more completely than almost any other country's, and you can read that history in the buildings themselves.
It starts with the French. Hotel Le Royal opened in Phnom Penh in 1929, and the Grand Hotel d'Angkor followed in Siem Reap in 1932 — built to designs by Ernest Hébrard, the architect-planner behind much of colonial Indochina's urban design, and delayed by two years when the Depression hit. Both were built for a specific kind of traveller: the wealthy European coming by steamer and motor car to see the ruins.
The 1960s produced something more interesting. Under the Sangkum, Cambodian architects — Vann Molyvann above all — developed New Khmer Architecture, fusing modernist forms with Angkorian proportion and tropical ventilation. Sihanoukville's Independence Hotel, completed in 1964, still stands above the beach that took its name.
Then it stopped entirely. Under Democratic Kampuchea the hotels were emptied, the Grand Hotel was stripped and occupied, and for the best part of two decades the country had almost no accommodation industry at all. The Grand Hotel did not reopen until December 1991, after the Paris Peace Accords, and its guests then were journalists and UN staff.
What has happened since is one of the fastest hospitality build-outs in the region. Raffles bought and restored the Grand Hotel in the mid-1990s; the Angkor boom of the 2000s multiplied Siem Reap's room stock many times over; the 2010s brought the boutique era to Kampot, Kep and Battambang — and a casino-driven construction boom that reshaped Sihanoukville, not always for the better.
The result is unusual range for a country this size. In Siem Reap you can pay six dollars for a hostel bed or several hundred for a suite in a 1930s grande dame, within walking distance of each other.
Search every property →Cambodia is one of very few countries whose tourism industry has been built from nothing three separate times. The current one is barely thirty years old.
Tourism to Cambodia effectively begins in 1907, when Siam returned the provinces of Siem Reap, Battambang and Sisophon and the École française d'Extrême-Orient began clearing Angkor. The temples had never been lost to Cambodians, but they were newly reachable — and newly famous in Europe.
The first visitors came by river steamer and motor car, in numbers that would now count as a quiet morning. The Grand Hotel d'Angkor opened in 1932 specifically to house them. By the 1960s, under Sihanouk, Angkor was a genuine international destination drawing tens of thousands a year; Jacqueline Kennedy's visit in 1967 was the era's defining image. Sihanoukville was being built as a beach resort at the same time.
Then it stopped completely. Between the coup of 1970 and the UNTAC period, Cambodia had essentially no tourism industry — no functioning hotels, no international flights to speak of, and for much of the 1980s a state of civil war. Angkor was mined. Two decades of institutional knowledge simply disappeared, along with most of the people who held it.
Angkor was inscribed by UNESCO in 1992, while parts of the park were still being cleared of ordnance. Commercial tourism restarted after the 1993 elections and grew at a pace few countries have matched: fewer than half a million international arrivals in 2000, over two million by 2007, and a peak of roughly 6.6 million in 2019.
The shape of that growth mattered as much as the size. Open-skies agreements and a new Siem Reap airport put Angkor within a short flight of every regional hub, while the land borders with Thailand and Vietnam turned Cambodia into a stop on an overland circuit rather than a destination in itself.
The pandemic took arrivals close to zero — 2021 saw fewer visitors than a single busy week of 2019. Recovery began in 2022, reached 5,453,231 in 2023 and 6,700,125 in 2024, finally passing the pre-pandemic peak.
Then 2025 went backwards. Border tensions with Thailand cut deeply into overland arrivals — the channel that had accounted for nearly two thirds of all visitors — and the year closed at 5.57 million, down 16.9%.
But the same year told a second story. Tourism receipts rose 6.6% to US$3.878 billion despite the drop in headcount, and domestic travel grew 11.7% to 25.16 million. Fewer, longer, higher-spending visitors — mostly arriving by air — more than replaced the day-trippers.
| Year | Arrivals |
|---|---|
| 2000 | under 0.5 m |
| 2007 | about 2 m |
| 2019 | about 6.6 m |
| 2021 | near zero |
| 2023 | 5,453,231 |
| 2024 | 6,700,125 |
| 2025 | 5,570,000 −16.9% |
| 2026 forecast | about 6 m |
Ministry of Tourism figures. Earlier years rounded; 2023–2025 as reported.
Almost entirely a land-border story. Thailand and Vietnam supply over half of Cambodia's arrivals, most of them crossing by road for short stays. When the Thai border tightened, that volume vanished — while air arrivals and spending per visitor both went up. Chinese arrivals rose more than 40% over the same period.
The infrastructure Cambodia has built since 2023 is sized for a country expecting far more visitors than it has ever had. The question is not capacity. It is whether the overland markets come back.
Techo International Airport opened on 9 September 2025, about 20 km south-east of Phnom Penh. It cost roughly US$2 billion, was designed by Foster + Partners with a main hall modelled on a tropical tree canopy, and opens with capacity for 13 million passengers a year — rising to 30 million after 2030 and a planned 50 million by 2050.
For context, the old Phnom Penh airport handled about 4.75 million passengers in 2024. The new one is built for roughly three times that from day one. The old field is retained for military and emergency use.
Paired with Siem Reap–Angkor International, which opened in 2023, Cambodia has replaced both of its main gateways inside three years — something no comparable country in the region has done.
The most encouraging number from 2025 is not an arrival figure at all. Receipts rose while arrivals fell, which means the average visitor stayed longer and spent more. That is the shift the industry has been trying to engineer for a decade: away from same-day border crossings and towards multi-night trips.
Domestic tourism, at over 25 million trips, is now a genuine market in its own right and far less exposed to regional politics.
Angkor was listed in 1992, Preah Vihear in 2008, Sambor Prei Kuk in 2017 and Koh Ker in 2023. Three of those four are outside Siem Reap, which is exactly the point — the strategy is to give people reasons to travel beyond the temple town.
More sites sit on the tentative list, Banteay Chhmar among them.
Cambodia now has a substantial network of community-based ecotourism sites — Banteay Chhmar, Prek Thnout, Chi Phat in the Cardamoms, Preah Rumkel on the Mekong — where the revenue stays in the village and the conservation case is direct. It is the most credible growth story in Cambodian tourism, and the one most likely to survive changes in regional politics.
Two thirds of Cambodia's arrivals have historically come overland, and that channel proved fragile in 2025. Official expectations for 2026 sit at around six million — a recovery, but still short of 2024. Anyone telling you the trajectory is a straight line up is selling something.
The realistic read: the ceiling is much higher than it was, the floor is more exposed than it looks, and the interesting growth is in the provinces most visitors have never heard of.
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The five things travellers ask about most, answered properly and dated so you know how current they are.
Cambodia is small — you can drive its width in a day — but it holds a startling range: the largest religious monument on earth, a 400-kilometre coastline with barely-developed islands, a freshwater lake that quadruples in size each monsoon, and highlands where you need a jacket at night.
Most itineraries are built around Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, connected by a six-hour bus ride or a 45-minute flight. Add the south coast — Kampot, Kep and the islands — and you have two weeks. Push north-east to Kratie, Mondulkiri or Ratanakiri and you are travelling in a country most visitors never see.
The riel is the local currency, but US dollars circulate freely and most hotel rates are quoted in dollars. Change under a dollar comes back in riel at roughly 4,000 to the dollar.
Read the travel guidesChecked 6 August 2026. Anything involving a fee or a rule links to the official source.
Most nationalities do. A tourist e-Visa costs roughly US$36 (a US$30 fee plus US$6 processing) and gives 30 days; a visa on arrival is US$30 in cash at the airports and main land borders. ASEAN passport holders generally enter visa-free for short stays.
Separately, everyone must submit the free Cambodia e-Arrival card within seven days before arrival. It is not a visa and does not replace one. Full detail in our visa guide.
US$37 for one day, US$62 for three days (used within a 10-day window) and US$72 for seven days (within 30 days). Children under 12 enter free with a passport as proof of age.
Buy only from the official ticket office on Apsara Road or at ticket.angkorenterprise.gov.kh. A pass bought after 5 pm activates immediately and is valid all of the next day — which is how you skip the sunrise queue. See the Angkor ticket guide.
November to February is the best weather: dry, sunny, cool enough at dawn to want a layer. It is also the busiest and priciest. March to May is dry but seriously hot, with April the hottest month of the year.
June to October is the green season — daily afternoon rain, dramatic skies, flooded rice paddies, full moats at Angkor, half the visitors and noticeably lower room rates. If you have travelled in the tropics before, September and October are excellent value.
One week covers Siem Reap and Phnom Penh with a couple of nights on the south coast. Two weeks adds the islands properly plus either Battambang or Kratie. Three weeks or more is what the north-east — Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri — actually needs, once you account for the roads.
For Angkor alone, three days is the sweet spot, and the three-day pass lets you take a rest day in the middle without wasting anything.
Both, and they work together. The riel is the national currency but US dollars circulate freely, and most hotel and tour prices are quoted in dollars. The working rate is about 4,000 riel to US$1.
You pay in dollars and change under a dollar comes back in riel — there are no US coins in circulation. Riel is what you want for market stalls and tuk-tuk fares.
One rule that catches everyone out: damaged dollar bills are refused. A torn corner or a biro mark and it will be handed back. Check what an ATM gives you before you walk away.
Cards work at hotels, established restaurants and supermarkets in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, often with a 2–3% surcharge. Everywhere else, assume cash.
Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem have no reliable ATMs at all — take what you need before the ferry. ATM withdrawal fees are high, commonly US$4–6 per transaction on top of your own bank's charge, so withdraw larger amounts less often. Machines often default to US$100 notes, which are hard to break; ask for an amount like US$180 instead of US$200.
Bus or minivan takes 6–7 hours and costs roughly US$10–20. Large coaches are slower and much more comfortable than minivans; on this route, take the coach.
Flying takes about 45 minutes, but Siem Reap's new airport sits 40 km east of town, so once you add transfers at both ends the saving is smaller than it looks. See getting around Cambodia.
Excluding international flights: around US$25–35 a day backpacking, US$50–90 mid-range with an air-conditioned room and a pool, and US$150+ for boutique hotels with a private driver.
Budget the Angkor pass and intercity transport separately — those are the two costs that sit outside the daily figure. Full breakdown in what Cambodia costs.
Broadly yes, and violent crime against visitors is uncommon. The realistic risks are opportunistic: bag-snatching from motorbikes in Phnom Penh, overcharging, and scams around the Poipet border crossing. Carry bags on the side away from the road and arrange your own onward transport at borders rather than accepting help.
Traffic is the genuine danger. Roads are busy, right-of-way is negotiated rather than enforced, and night driving on intercity routes is best avoided. Check whether your travel insurance covers motorbikes before renting one — most policies do not unless you hold the right licence.
Unexploded ordnance remains a real hazard in some rural border areas of the north and north-west. Stay on marked paths, and never enter an area marked with a red mine warning sign.
Do not drink the tap water. Bottled and filtered water is cheap and universally available, and ice in established restaurants is generally made from purified water.
Vaccination advice depends on your medical history and where you are going, so speak to a travel clinic or your doctor 6–8 weeks before you leave. Malaria risk is low in the main tourist areas but present in forested and border regions, and dengue is present year-round — mosquito precautions matter more than anything else.
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For December and January in Siem Reap, book six to eight weeks out — the good mid-range places genuinely fill, and what is left is poor value. Same for the islands over Christmas and New Year, where supply is small and fixed.
Everywhere else, a week is usually plenty, and in the green season you can walk in. Cambodia is not a country where you need to plan the whole trip before you leave — but Angkor in high season is the exception.
Siem Reap: around the Old Market and Pub Street if you want everything on foot and do not mind noise; along the river or Wat Bo for quiet with a five-minute tuk-tuk; further out towards the temples for pool villas and total calm.
Phnom Penh: BKK1 is the reliable first choice — quiet streets, good coffee, the best mid-range boutiques. Daun Penh puts you walking distance from the palace. The riverside on Sisowath Quay is the most convenient and the loudest.
Light, loose, natural fabrics. At Angkor, the Royal Palace and any active pagoda, shoulders and knees must be covered for men and women alike. This is enforced, not suggested — you will be turned away from Angkor Wat's upper level or the Silver Pagoda otherwise.
Carry a light scarf or krama and you can cover up in seconds. Shoes come off before entering sanctuaries, so slip-ons save time. Bring proper walking shoes for the temples; you will cover far more ground than you expect over uneven sandstone.
Tipping was not traditionally part of Cambodian culture but is now expected in tourist-facing work, and wages are low enough that it matters.
Restaurants: round up, or 5–10% where there is no service charge. Guides: US$5–10 per person per day for a good one. Drivers: US$3–5 for a full day. Housekeeping: US$1–2 a night, left in the room. Nobody will be rude if you do not, but it is genuinely appreciated.
Buy a local SIM at the airport or any phone shop — around US$5–10 buys a generous data package, and coverage is good across the country including most of Angkor. You will need your passport to register it. eSIMs work with most modern phones.
Wi-fi is near-universal in hotels, cafés and restaurants in the cities and is usually fine for video calls. The exception is the islands, where several places run on generators and switch power off for part of the day — check before booking if you need to work.
Solo: yes, and it is one of the easier countries in the region for it. The hostel scene in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Kampot and on the islands makes meeting people straightforward, and buses between the main towns are simple to book. Solo women travel here routinely; the usual sensible precautions apply, particularly around late-night transport.
Families: Cambodians are notably warm towards children and most restaurants will accommodate them without fuss. Angkor is hard work for small legs in the heat — build in pool time, go early, and consider the three-day pass so you can do half-days.
Generally yes, and skipping it means missing much of the point. The practical rule is to eat where it is busy — high turnover means fresh ingredients — and to favour food cooked to order in front of you over anything sitting warm.
Be more cautious with pre-cut fruit left uncovered, raw salads washed in tap water, and shellfish away from the coast. Ice in established restaurants and cafés is made from purified water and is fine.
Any effort is warmly received. The essentials:
Suostei — hello. Aw kohn — thank you. Sohm toh — sorry / excuse me. Baat (men) / Jaa (women) — yes. Ot te — no. Thlai ponman? — how much? Chnganh — delicious. Lea hao-y — goodbye.
The traditional greeting, the sampeah, is palms together at chest height with a slight bow. Returning it is polite and always appreciated.
Cambodia has no laws criminalising same-sex relationships and is generally regarded as one of the more relaxed countries in the region for LGBTQ+ visitors. Phnom Penh and Siem Reap both have visible venues and communities.
Attitudes are more conservative outside the cities, and public displays of affection between anyone — same-sex or not — are uncommon in rural areas. Same-sex marriage is not legally recognised.
Less than you think. Laundry is cheap and fast everywhere. The things people regret not bringing: a refillable water bottle, high-factor sunscreen (expensive locally and often skin-whitening), strong insect repellent, a light layer for over-air-conditioned buses, and a torch for caves and island power cuts.
Add a scarf or krama for temple dress codes, proper walking shoes, and a small first-aid kit with rehydration salts. If you are visiting the highlands between November and February, bring something genuinely warm for the evenings.
Four things make a real difference. Do not visit orphanages — most children in them have a living parent, and visitor demand drives family separation. Do not ride elephants; the walk-with-the-herd sanctuaries in Mondulkiri are the alternative. Do not buy antiquities, which are almost certainly looted and illegal to export.
And choose community-based tourism where it exists — Banteay Chhmar, Chi Phat, Prek Thnout, Koh Trong and the Ratanakiri village programmes all keep the money where it does most good.
Still stuck? Read the full guides or ask us directly.