Capital: Phnom Penh
Airport : Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia, is the busiest airport in Cambodia and serves as the country’s main international gateway. It is Cambodia’s second largest airport by area after the new Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport.
Country Code: +855
Credit Cards: Visa, MasterCard and American Express are accepted in many major hotels, restaurants and shops in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. However, do expect a 2-3% surcharge.
Currency: Riel
Departure Tax: International airport tax is USD25 and USD6 for domestic airport tax. The airport taxes have to be paid in cash at the airport. Travelers who exit Cambodia by land border, do not require to pay for any departure tax.
Drives on the: Right
Electricity: 230V supply voltage and 50Hz.
Ethnic Groups: Khmer, Chams, Chinese, Vietnamese
Location: Southeast Asia.
Official Language(s): Khmer language, the country’s official language. Others include Vietnamese, Lao, Chinese, Thai, English.
Religion: Cambodia is predominantly Buddhist with 80% of the population being Theravada Buddhist, 1% Christian and the majority of the remaining population follow Islam, atheism, or animism.
Time Zone: GMT +7
Tipping: Gthe exact tip amount when eating out in Cambodia depends on the place, occasion, and order size. It’s customary to give your waiter or waitress a slightly higher tip than you would a bartender, as they are likely sharing their tip with the kitchen staff.
The best time to visit Cambodia is from November to March when rainfall is at a minimum. Temperatures are cooler and humidity is also low. However, during this time, the streets of Cambodia remain crowded, and the hotel accommodations are expensive. If you wish to dodge the high prices, you can book your tickets for Cambodia anytime from May to October.
The country is generally warm, and there are two seasons per se, wet and dry. The average temperature ranges between 21 – 36 degrees. The wet season is from May to October, and hence, you can get some respite from the heat with a bit of downpour in the afternoons. This is locally termed as the green season because the countryside blooms to life! During the dry season, which is from November to March, the days are hot and dry.
Generally, any time of the year is a good time to travel in Cambodia, with each season having its advantages. The climate in Cambodia is generally hot and humid all throughout the year. Temperatures stay in the low- to mid-30s°C most of the year, dropping slightly at night. There are officially two seasons in Cambodia – wet and dry. In November–May you can expect dry conditions, while June–October will have the wettest conditions. What’s more, there are benefits to travelling in both seasons, depending on what you’re looking to get out of Cambodia
Angkor Wat (Angkor Archaeological Park)
This temple city is the number one tourist spot in Cambodia. Accessed from the town of Siem Reap, the temples of the Angkorian period are so ambitious in scale and in the majesty of their construction, that Angkor Wat is rated as one of the world’s must-see ancient sites. Built between 802 and 1432, this was the largest city in the world during the medieval age and the vast powerhouse of the Khmer kings who endeavored to outbid their predecessors in the beauty of their construction. As the city’s wooden dwellings were encroached and then decayed by the surrounding jungle, what remains today, are just those mighty temples. The temple of Angkor Wat itself, the world’s largest religious building, is only one sliver of the site in total, and the sprawling circuit of temples deserves three days to explore if you want to understand the scope of the Angkorian period’s architectural achievements. For those short on time though, the main highlights after Angkor Wat are the tree-root clasped temple of Ta Prohm (which first found international fame as a location used in the movie Tomb Raider), the Bayon Temple for its 216 stone-carved faces, Angkor Thom and Preah Khan.
Phnom Penh
Cambodia’s capital is the frenetic heartbeat of the nation; a city of chaotic streets abuzz with motorbikes and car horns that can frazzle at first glance.Deserted completely during the Khmer Rouge madness and left to wither and decay, Phnom Penh has bounced back to become one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic cities.For visitors, this is Cambodia’s most cosmopolitan destination, with a café and restaurant scene unrivaled in the rest of the country.It’s also home to a scattering of important historic sites that help unravel both Cambodia’s modern and ancient history. The National Museum is home to a swag of Khmer sculpture that traces the nation’s history from the pre-Angkorian age right through to the phenomenal majesty of the god-Kings of Angkor.The Royal Palace provides gorgeous examples of traditional artistry, while Tuol Sleng Museum and the killing fields of Choeung Ek speak of the horror and brutality the people of this country suffered under Khmer Rouge rule.
Koh Rong Samloem
Just off Cambodia’s south coast lie a scattering of islands just as beautiful as their Thai counterparts to the west, but much less visited.Compared to the now very developed islands of Koh Samui and Phuket, Cambodia’s islands are a slice of laid-back tropical bliss, where sun and sand take center stage, and the big resorts have yet to make their mark. Of all the islands, Koh Rong Samloem is one of the most beautiful, with the long, sandy Saracen Bay home to a dozen beach hut resorts that offer a welcome respite from the world. It’s really all about hammock-time here, but there’s plenty of scuba diving activities on offer for the more active. You can access these islands from Sihanoukville.
Ratanakiri
Ratanakiri is a nature-filled reprieve for travellers suffering from temple-fatigue.This is outback Cambodia, and the endless red-dirt roads of the region, leading to ethnic minority villages, are an intrepid traveller’s delight. For those with an adventurous streak, the province is one of the best places in Cambodia for trekking, from spotting gibbons at Veun Sai-Siem Pang Conservation Area, where overnight trips involve sleeping in hammocks and early rises to track buff-cheeked gibbons, to hiking in Virachey National Park home to elephants, tigers, and sun bears. There’s more relaxing options on offer as well. The emerald water of Yeak Lom Crater Lake just outside of Ban Lung town is a tranquil swimming spot, while the waterfalls of Chaa Ong and Ka Tieng are fun diversions that provide more opportunities for getting wet.
Prasat Preah Vihear
The temples of Angkor Wat may gain all the glory, but Prasat Preah Vihear wins the prize for the most dramatic location. Sitting atop the Dangrek Mountains, on an escarpment with dizzying views across the Cambodian floodplains, Prasat Preah Vihear is a monumental temple complex of intricately carved pavilions linked by long causeways, built originally to honor the god Shiva. The temple is snug against the border with Thailand and has historically been a point of contention between the two nations, who both claim it as their own. The International Court of Justice ruled in Cambodia’s favor in 2013 after border disputes flared up between 2008 and 2011. Tensions have dissipated in the last few years, meaning this UNESCO World Heritage Site can now reclaim its rightful role on the tourist trail.Access is from Sra Em, although most visitors come on a day trip from Siem Reap (200 kilometers south).
Tonlé Sap Lake
Tonlé Sap is Cambodia’s most important waterway and Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake. As well as being an important source of food and a vital tool for Cambodian irrigation, the lake itself is home to 170 floating villages that depend on fishing for their livelihood, with homes built directly on the water. The houses, shops, churches, schools, and temples of these villages are built on rustic buoy foundations of lashed together barrels and bamboo, and all transport is by boat. They’re a fascinating place to spend a day exploring. One of the most interesting is the sprawling village of Kompong Luong, near the town of Pursat on Tonlé Sap’s western shore, although the most popular village to visit is Chong Kneas near Siem Reap.
Kratie
If you’re here for the full Mekong experience, you’ve come to the right place. Spread along the banks of the mighty Mekong, Kratie has become a major destination for travellers due to its dolphin-watching tours. The endangered Irrawaddy dolphins are endemic to the Mekong, and environmental measures have now been put in place to try and help their dwindling numbers. Tourism has played a good role in trying to protect the dolphins by offering an alternative economy to fishing. To see the dolphins head to Kampi, just north of Kratie, where there are plenty of boat tours available.
Mundulkiri’s Elephant Valley Project
Adventurous travellers beeline to the hill country of Mundulkiri Province in Cambodia’s far east for wildlife spotting, village life, trail-bike tours, and the Elephant Valley Project. The most famous tourist attraction in the region, the Elephant Valley Project offers visitors a chance to walk with the sanctuary’s elephants (no riding allowed) while providing an opportunity for local mahouts (elephant keepers) to earn a wage that doesn’t involve overworking their elephants. For adrenaline-junkies, the Mayura zipline course skims right over the top of Bou Sra waterfall, while bird-watchers and wildlife spotters will want to take a tour into Seima Protected Forest, home to gibbons, the endangered black-shanked douc langurs, and plentiful birdlife. The small town of Sen Monorom is the main base for travellers in Mundulkiri and within easy day-tripping distance to all of the tourist attractions.
Chol Chnam Thmay – Khmer New Year
Khmer New Year, or “Choul Chnam Thmey”, is one of the biggest festivals in Cambodia, marking the end of the harvest season, the start of the rainy season, and the traditional new year. Unlike most Cambodian holidays, which follow the lunar calendar, the New Year in Cambodia follows the Gregorian calendar. Celerated on either April 13th or 14th and lasting for 3 days, the festival is a time for relaxation, family reunions, and cultural and religious festivities.
During the holiday, the Cambodians clean the house, go to the temples, give each other gifts, and participate in colorful processions and traditional games. Water has a major symbolic meaning in the event, as it represents purification and the washing away of past sins and bad luck. People sprinkle water on one another as a gesture for blessings and join in lively water fights, which strengthens the bonds of community. It resembles Thailand’s Songkran on a smaller scale.
However, traveling during this period is not advised unless you have a connection with a local who can invite you to their home. Nearly the entire nation shuts down as people travel to their hometowns to rejoice with their families, and the urban areas become “ghost towns”. Many shops, cafes, and restaurants close, and the rare ones that stay open have minimal staff, which may provide slack service at a higher price.
Royal Ploughing Ceremony
The Royal Ploughing Ceremony, also called “Preah Reach Pithi Bonn Chrot Preah Neang Kol” in Khmer, is a traditional agricultural celebration that is held outside the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh in May (in April of the lunar calendar). The event is presided over by the royal family, and marks a new planting season. It is replete with pomp, Buddhism, and animism. The monks start the event with chanting and for permission from the earth spirits to plough. Then, the King or a picked representative will use a plow driven by two royal oxen to till a plot of land.
It is said that the royal oxen at the ceremony can use the nose to predict the quality of the harvest ahead. After the plow, the animals are given a choice of fodder in the form of rice, corn, green beans, sesame seeds, freshly-cut grass, water and rice whisky. The different offerings each have a meaning. For example, grain or rice means a good harvest, whisky is an indication of increased crime, water predicts there would be flood, and grass suggests animal diseases.
Pchum Ben – Festival Of The Dead
Pchum Ben, also known as Ancestor’s Day or the Festival of the Dead, happens on the 15th day of the 10th Khmer month, or in September or October of the solar calendar. Cambodians believe that during this time, the doorway to hell will be opened, and the spirits of those who are unable to move on to the afterlife will come back to roam Earth. By offering food, gifts, and prayers, they honor their seven generations of ancestors and hope to alleviate any suffering the spirits may be experiencing.
“Pchum” means “to gather together,” and “Ben” represents a “ball of food”. During Pchum Ben, families gather and visit temples and pagodas to pay their respects and offer food to monks, who will pass it on to the spirits. The merits earned are expected to reduce the sins of the ancestors.
While other festivals share some standard features with other traditions in other countries, Pchum Ben is a unique feature of Cambodia. The event is a deeply rooted and emotionally charged occasion that highlights Cambodia’s rich spiritual and familial traditions, emphasizing the enduring connections between the living and the departed. If you are in Cambodia during this time, consider heading to a temple for an interesting look at a unique tradition.
Meak Bochea – Festival of the Monks
Meak Bochea is a sacred Buddhist festival celebrated in many countries such as Cambodia, Laos, or Thailand on the full moon day of the third lunar month, which means it falls in February. It is also referred to as Buddha’s Preachment Commemoration Ceremony. The event commemorates a spontaneous gathering of 1250 enlightened disciples of Buddha who came to hear his teachings. He is said to have ordered them to spread Buddhism’s principles, marking a major milestone in the religion’s development.
Meak Bochea celebrations start early, with offerings including necessities being given to monks. The monks meditate and pray in the morning. In the evening, locals flock to the temples to listen to preachings and perform a candle ceremony, where they walk around the temple three times with flowers, incense, and a candle. Each circuit represents one of the ideas of Buddhism: Buddha (the Holy God), Dharma (the community), and Sangha (the monks).
The festival emphasizes the significance of moral discipline, mindfulness, and unity in the Buddhist faith. Meak Bochea is a time for reflection, spiritual renewal, and the reinforcement of Buddhist principles, bringing communities together in a shared pursuit of enlightenment.
Vesak Bochea – Buddha’s birth Celebration
Vesak Bochea, also known as Buddha’s Birthday, is a significant Buddhist festival celebrated in Cambodia and other Buddhist-majority countries. Falling on the full moon day of the fourth Buddhist month, usually in April or May, the event commemorates the three major events in the life of Buddha, which are Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and his passing into nirvana. On this day, Buddhists in Cambodia pray to Lord Buddha and donate food and clothes to the local monks in the area.
Devotees engage in spiritual activities such as visiting temples, making offerings, and participating in candlelit processions. The festival highlights the principles of compassion, peace, and mindfulness that Buddha advocated. Vesak Bochea serves as a time for reflection, meditation, and community service, emphasizing the moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism.
Bon Om Touk – Water Festival
Bon Om Touk, the Cambodian Water Festival, is an annual and grand celebration in Phnom Penh that marks the reversal of the flow between the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers, which is an anomaly unique to the country. Typically occurring in November and lasting for 3 days, it commemorates the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the fishing season. This is also a way for Cambodians to thank the water god for bringing abundant water and to pray for the harvest next year.
The festival features colorful boat races, with teams from across the country competing on the Tonle Sap River. Illuminated floats, traditional music, colorful fireworks, and vibrant parades further contribute to the festive atmosphere. Cambodians gather in Phnom Penh to enjoy the festival, fostering a sense of national pride and unity. Bon Om Touk is a captivating display of Cambodia’s rich cultural heritage.
A shopping tour in Cambodia makes sense primarily as a complement to sightseeing and beach vacations. The main shopping destinations are in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Items like shirts made of natural silk, bronze Buddha statuettes, natural coffee, and silver are among the main souvenirs you can bring back from this country. While you can find almost everything in the markets, the quality of those items may vary.
Many people advise to bring stones, but it is difficult to buy real, genuine gems here, there is a great risk to meet even beautiful, but fakes. You will not find any special sales in Cambodia. There are not many stores and boutiques here. The conditional season of sales can be considered the end of summer in Cambodia, when there are not many tourists.
The markets typically open around 06:00 and close by 17:00, with the best time to visit being in the morning. By midday, most of the stalls are closed, often reopening only around 15:00-16:00. Large shopping centers and supermarkets operate from 08:00-09:00 to 20:00-21:00, while small private stores are open from 07:00-08:00 to 17:00-18:00, covering the period from dawn to the end of daylight hours.
In any case, when in Cambodia, consider bringing back silk and silk products, exploring jewelry options, and selecting wooden and wicker crafts from local artisans.
Cambodian cuisine does not have the breadth or depth of either Thai food or Vietnamese food, although it has some similarities with both. It is certainly less spicy than you will find in Thailand. Rice is, of course, the staple and most dishes are cooked in a wok. Given the number of rivers and the dominance of the Tonle Sap, it also comes as no surprise that freshwater fish figures quite large at the Cambodian meal table. This includes the very Cambodian ingredient of prahoc, or fermented fish paste, that is beloved by Cambodians but which many foreigners find a little too pungent.
Breakfast for Khmers is usually the ubiquitous rice soup. Main meals will consist of a number of dishes served simultaneously, almost always including a soup of some kind. Cambodia’s signature dish is amok — fish cooked in banana leaves with turmeric and coconut milk. Like many Cambodian dishes, it has a mildly lemony taste. Another biggie is lok lak. It consists of diced, fried beef served with fried eggs, salad, and french fries or rice. A common condiment that gives lok lak and many other dishes a bit of added taste is pepper mashed in with squeezed lime. It works with chicken, beef, and pork.
There are five principal ingredients in Cambodian cooking. Apart from prahoc, lemon grass adds a distinctively balmy flavor to many dishes, and you’ll often see it growing in gardens. Kaffir lime leaves are ground into paste and used like bay leaves to flavor soup or sliced into thin threads as a garnish. Galangal, a cream-colored root, resembles ginger but has a more subtle flavor. Again it is either ground into a paste or added sliced to give a slightly roasted flavor. Tamarind paste is the dark pulp from inside the flat pods that grow on tamarind trees. It was introduced as an ingredient by Indian traders. Khmers use it to darken soups and give them a characteristic mixture of sweet and sour.
The southern coast around Kep and Sihanoukville is the place for magnificent seafood. Kep crab in Kampot pepper is a real treat but there is also steamed fish, lobster, squid, and much other delicious seafood. They will be cooked right in front of you or even at your table.
Cambodians love fruit. Papaya, rambutan, pomelo, melon, bananas, pineapple, jackfruit, durian, and many others all play a major and very healthy part in the Khmer diet.
The imperialist legacy left its mark on cuisine in Cambodia. As in Laos and Vietnam, breakfast can be a fresh baguette and delicious filtered coffee. Also popular are baguette sandwiches with pâté and salad. These can be bought from roadside vendors pushing glass-sided carts.
While Cambodia has yet to see chain restaurants on a larger scale, international cuisine has come to its cities over the last 20 years. You will find Vietnamese-style noodle soup pretty much everywhere and Chinese food is also an integral part of the scene. There is suki soup from North Asia, burgers from everywhere, and lots of Thai food. Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (but particularly Phnom Penh) have some of the best selections of restaurants serving international cuisine in the entire region. Whether you want Mexican tacos or Spanish tapas on the riverfront, a perfect steak au poivre in the shadow of Wat Phnom or English fish and chips by Central Market, Phnom Penh has it. This is partly a legacy of the days when the UN was in Cambodia and businesses opened up, catering to the multiplicity of nationalities involved. The last 10 years have seen an explosion of new dining options and the competition keeps standards very high.
Wherever you are, stick only to bottled water. You can also get cold fizzy drinks in most places, but they tend to be sickly sweet. You are also relatively safe with the fruit shakes sold at stalls and in markets. They are popular and very refreshing. Beer both local and imported, and brewed under license, is available everywhere. Angkor is the original Cambodian beer and is not bad, though it will give you a headache if imbibed in quantity. A good alternative is the similarly named Anchor. Pronounce it “Antchor” if you don’t want them to give you Angkor by mistake.