Long-time readers of Along Dusty Roads will recognise that this post would normally be called ‘13 Wonderful Things To Do in Phnom Penh’.
However, when talking about experiences in Cambodia's capital city, it's difficult to use the word wonderful to describe them. Indeed, for two of the most popular things to do in Phnom Penh, a few more appropriate adjectives spring to mind.
Depressing. Emotional. Haunting.
Any first visit to Phnom Penh is going to be underpinned, not simply tinged, by sadness. That is not an indictment on the city itself - which has a growing cultural scene alongside the aromatic, colourful hallmarks of the traditional south-east Asia urban experience - but it's simply impossible to avoid the fact that your first or second full day in Phnom Penh will leave you in a state of despair for the human condition.
The genocide engineered by Pol Pot's hate-filled communist Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s decimated this country, killing 1.7 million through execution, torture, and starvation. And it's essential, vital even, that every traveller here spends time paying respect to its dead, its forgotten, and its unnamed.
However, beyond the macabre realities, there is plenty more to enjoy in Phnom Penh. Indeed, much of it offers a revitalising salve to the grim morning or afternoon spent visiting the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng S21 Prison - as well as the opportunity to source the necessary stiff drink or two after.
Across our five days in Phnom Penh, we savoured our first tastes of the country's cuisine, spent mornings between temples and cool third-wave coffee shops, sweltered within a Royal Palace, explored art-deco and tin-roofed local markets, lazed in our hostel pool, joined locals for a fight under bright lights, supported social enterprise businesses, and sipped on secret sunset cocktails.
Enjoying Cambodia's capital over the course of two or three nights is therefore all about finding balance between the shocking, the sobering, and the special.
These are the 13 best things to do in Phnom Penh, including advice on where to stay in the city, our favourite restaurant, and the secret to knowing exactly how to pronounce its seemingly unpronounceable name!
Visit The Royal Palace
Where London has Buckingham Palace, Phnom Penh has the Royal Palace.
Spread across a vast, manicured site which feels miles away from the cramped urbanity elsewhere in Phnom Penh, the elegant opulence of the various temples and buildings which compose the King's residence are quite breathtaking. The design is also so quintessentially of the south-east Asian style too. It's not as old as you may think though, with construction beginning only in 1865 at the behest of the then-King Norodom who had decided to make Phnom Penh his capital.
Although its restricted opening hours can make it busy and it really could do with a few more signs about its history, it's still a joy to walk around and appreciate the details for yourself. The Silver Pagoda is a highlight for many, but we'd recommend to take your time at the wonderfully sprawling murals within the courtyard.
Many of the sections and buildings across the site closed to the public, so you have to make do with peering through the windows sometimes. For example, the throne room is open for visits when there is no official event on, although you cannot take photos of the inside.
This is, understandably, a very important and popular site for Cambodians, especially on Sundays when the Palace sees its highest visitor numbers. The Cambodian royal family continues to play an important and powerful role within the country's society and politics. Indeed, in many public and private buildings, portraits of the current King (Norodom Sihamoni) and his parents (King Sihanouk and Queen Norodom Monineath - who looks very much like she could be related to Queen Liz), are given prominent position on the walls.
There’s lots to know before you visit Phnom Penh’s Royal Palace, so we’ve put together this short guide with all the information you need.
The Details
Cost | Entry is $10 USD per person, cash only.
Where |There are four gates into the site, but public entrance is only permitted via the eastern gate on Samdach Sothearos Blvd (Google Maps)
When | 8 am - 11 am, then 2 pm - 5 pm.
Plan | The Royal Palace park is just across the road from the entrance, and the Tonle Sap river is a block or so away from the entrance / exit.
Read More | A Complete Guide to Visiting the Royal Palace
Savour The Street Scenes
This Cambodia trip marked the first time we had travelled together in south-east Asia. Andrew lived in the region for a year (though it was a lifetime ago), whilst Emily had only dipped her toe into Indonesia.
Unsurprisingly, it was the street scenes of Phnom Penh which we were instantly drawn toward. A dervish of colour, movement, and fragments of managed confusion with fading French quarters or stacked iron balconies as a backdrop - it simply felt so like the urban south-east Asia we had pictured when planning our trip.
In truth, the pace of development and modernisation within central Phnom Penh is quite clear down certain boulevards. That’s good news for the city, but not so enticing to the visitor. This is means that the photogenic pockets of poetry and serendipity are best found by following your curiosity down the side streets, up the back streets, and in the hustle and bustle of the markets dotted around the neighbourhoods.
Tip | Explore Phnom Penh and follow your curiosity, but it is really important to understand before you visit that rapid bag snatches are serious issue for travellers in the city. We took various precautions when out with our cameras (as we usually do), and advise you to do the same with your own daypacks or mobile phones. Find out more in ‘9 Things To Know before You Visit Phnom Penh’
A Morning at the Killing Fields...
As is probably clear by now, we enjoy taking photos of the places we travel.
However, we took no photos at two important sites in and close to Phnom Penh which every traveller has to visit.
It simply didn’t feel right or necessary.
A morning at the killing fields is sombre, sobering experience, and it will weigh heavy on you. At this once-upon-a-time orchard about 11 kms from the city centre, over 17,000 Cambodian were executed over less than four years. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, infants, put to death by clubs, branches, and slit throats to preserve expensive bullets, and piled into hundreds of mass graves.
The site is now housed within the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre complex, and is visited by thousands of tourists each year. It is a place which all of us should visit to learn and reflect in a respectful, responsible manner.
It should never be forgotten however that this is a place of sorrow, remembrance, and a haunting memorial to the depths of human depravity: the tower of broken skulls, and the untouched open graves, and the fragments of rag and bone mixing with the dirt by wooden walkways are not there to entertain or for selfies.
The Details
Cost | Entry to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre is $6 per person, which includes an excellent audio guide in multiple languages.
Where | Just under 11 kms from downtown Phnom Penh.
When | Open daily from 7.30 am - 5.30 pm.
Read More | You can read full details in this post on how to plan your visit to the Phnom Penh killing fields, including essential advice on transport options, how to visit respectfully, and the dress code for tourists.
...and An Afternoon at Tuol Sleng S21
The Khmer Rouge transformed this high-school in the heart of Phnom Penh, with its open-air courtyard and chessboard yellow-white tiles, into ‘Security Office 21’, the largest prison of its kind within Cambodia. From a place of learning, community, and safety, it became a site of detention, interrogation, and death where classrooms were divided into bricked-up cells blocks.
There is no effort to mask what passed here in the 1970s. The iron beds upon which shackled prisoners were executed remain, and specks of blood are ingrained into the cracked, peeling plaster and paint. Hundreds of black-and-white photos of prisoners, the innocents who the communist genocide raged down upon, detail the cold-blooded callousness and bureaucratic fervour of those responsible for their lot.
Many of those executed at Choeung Ek were held here, before being transported to their death in the countryside. Several survivors work within Tuol Sleng, including one gentleman who was saved by the Vietnamese as a child, selling their books and sharing their story with visitors.
Whilst Emily found the killing fields a more emotional, challenging experience, on both visits to these sites almost a decade apart, it’s the black-and-white portraits of the innocents of S21 which hit me like a gut punch.
For obvious reasons, we recommend pairing these sombre activities into a single day. It may not be apparent yet, but saving at least one of your days in Phnom Penh for solely doing happier activities really is sensible.
The Details
Cost | Entry to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is $5 for non-Cambodian adults, and $3 for those aged 10-18. A multilingual audio guide is available for $3, whilst you can engage a tour guide for a donation. Entry is free for Cambodian citizens.
Where | Tuol Sleng (Google Maps) is located between the city centre and the Russian Market, it's recommended to take a tuk-tuk here rather than walk.
When | Open daily from 8am - 5pm.
Plan | There is again a strict dress code and code of conduct to observe, with long trousers and covered shoulders the best option. If you are not wearing appropriate clothing (but please do) you can rent these at the site for a returnable deposit of $5 per item, or $10 for a shirt + trouser set. As ever, please be respectful and considerate as a visitor - this is not a place for lots of photos, selfies, and loud conversation.
Based on our experiences, we recommend visiting the killing fields in the morning when there are fewer people overall and the heat is manageable, before returning to the city to visit Tuol Sleng with no time constraints. Note that it is absolutely possible to visit Tuol Sleng in the morning before visiting the Killing Fields later in the day. Indeed, visiting where the majority of those executed at the killing field were imprisoned before their final journey to the former apple orchard in the countryside may have more narrative consistency or impact.
This tour is a popular, affordable option for those of you looking to visit the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng in one day. It has both a morning or an afternoon departure.
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Sunset Cocktails At Sundown Social Club
Ok, now's is the time to take a breather and focus on the more life-affirming, enjoyable aspects of a few days in Phnom Penh.
This stylish, hidden away rooftop bar doesn’t just get by on the strength of its view over the rusted Russian Market rooftops and modest modern skyscrapers at golden hour. It definitely could just get by on that, but it backs it up with a decent range of well-made cocktails, excellent vegan and non-vegan bar bites menu, affordable happy hour deals from 5-7 pm, and sprinkles of Miami pinks and blues in the decor.
What’s not to love?
We think that the Sundown Social Club has some of the best sunset views over Phnom Penh, and exactly the vibe we like. A few alternative options for rooftop bars with a view include Eclipse Sky Bar, Sora SkyBar, and Le Moon Rooftop Lounge.
The Details
Cost | Entry is free, and happy hour cocktails are your friend with a range of delectable drinks for around $5 a pop. Their standard cocktail menu ranges from $6 to $8, with excellent snacks for $5 a plate.
Where | #86 Street 440, by Tuol Tompoung Market (Google Maps). The entrance is a little nondescript, so look up for the sign above the little doorway before making your way up the stairs.
When | Every day, 12 pm - 12 am.
Eat Streetside Noodles for Breakfast
So, the only thing that we struggle with as vegetarian travellers in Asia, is that we can’t devour a lot of the street food.
And it isn’t simply because we miss being able to try out lots of authentically local flavours or taking the risk on ordering whatever looks good at the next person’s table, but it’s the atmosphere which comes with eating street food all over this part of the world. And the serendipitous, unmanufactured travel memories it creates.
In Phnom Penh, for example, it’s not being able to have the moment on your first or second morning of taking a chance on the little place on the street corner with dozens of breakfasting locals hunched over steaming bowls of fresh noodle soup. Of pulling up a red plastic chair on the grey concrete, ordering with a smile and a point, and trying to seamlessly slurp and suck the broth and the stringy noodles of the nom banh chok as they do. Letting new flavours and textures - some good, some bad - tell you more about a country than a museum exhibit.
Or a meal for a dollar or so, served up by a stranger, being the best damn thing you’ll taste all year. So, if you are happy to eat animals, that’s certainly a fun thing to do in Phnom Penh.
Read Next | 23 Things To Know Before You Visit Cambodia
For meat-eaters and non-meaters alike, we can however share our two most important foodie recommendations in Phnom Penh:
Surn Yi Vegetarian (Google Maps) is absolutely bloody brilliant. It serves a whole range of Cambodian dishes prepared for vegetarians and vegans, and their beef replacement in the noodle soups is VERY convincing. The menu is huge, it’s a local’s favourite, the setting is kitsch, and it delivered second or third best meal we had in Cambodia. If confused about what to order, we were very happy with a 13, 33, and 132.
Whenever you see a street cart with food go by, buy something! Not only does it support the seller, but it can result in some unexpectedly amazing flavours. For example, the grilled bananas below has a salty, smoked flavour on the inside, but were like sweet butter on the inside - we’d have them right now if we could! Street cart food we bought across Cambodia was never more than a dollar, and we didn’t mind if we paid a little over the odds.
If you would like to discover more about the local food scene in Phnom Penh, this Small-Group Evening Street Food Tour has good reviews.
Support Social Enterprises
It will become quite clear, quite quickly, that there is a sex tourism problem in Phnom Penh.
This is not the post to discuss it in too much detail, or share our disgust at the people who travel to Cambodia to perpetrate this (we do in this one though) but it cannot go unsaid. Any blog post talking about things to do in Phnom Penh which does not point out this deep-rooted and visible problem to future visitors is either ignorant, irresponsible, or both. Worryingly, in contrast to other countries we’ve visited, there does not appear to be a visible government campaign against it…
However, within this post, we wanted to share a few of the positive social enterprises in the city which are working help improve the socio-economic situation for street kids and marginalised youth in the city. By visiting them, not only are you making your tourist dollars have as positive a contribution as possible, but you are directly supporting the creating of viable, alternative economic paths for marginalised youths.
TREE, a global alliance of training restaurants, invest all their profits into ‘the students who train there and the social programmes which support them on their journey to becoming a skilled, productive and happy young person with a more secure future.’ They have two restaurants in Phnom Penh, friends and romdeng, which serve up a wide array of traditional Cambodian dishes. We had a decent lunch at friends, where main dishes are $4-7, and it’s a good idea to reserve a table in advance online as it is quite popular.
Just opposite friends (Google Maps), there’s a really cool creative arts space to peruse after your meal with several stalls selling unique, quirky clothes, jewellery, and souvenirs. This includes friends n’ stuff, an ethical lifestyle brand which reinvests all profit into providing ‘training, a stable income, social support, and employment assistance to parents in need’.
If you discover any other businesses delivering a positive social impact with their profits or their purpose in Phnom Penh, then let us know in the comments so that we can include them in this post!
Dinner at the Night Market
Although the riverside area of Phnom Penh wasn’t our favourite neighbourhood, dinner in the night market is a really lovely way to top off your second or third evening in the city. The deal is pretty straightforward - lots of lightbulb lit stalls offering up standard noodles, spring rolls, meat, and veg to more exotic fare, which you order by the dish or by weight, then eat with your mates on the dozens of large mats in the middle. It’s popular with tourists, but also very popular with locals groups and families, which makes for a really nice ambience.
Take your time wandering around to drink in the sizzles and scents, before picking the stall which takes your fancy (going for a busy one with locals is a good approach) and place your order by picking up the plastic basket and pointing to what you want or filling it up yourself. Dishes cost about $2 - $3.50, and are freshly prepared in front of you. Also, there was quite a good variety of vegetarian options, with a variety of tofu tasties to throw in your basket.
Everyone sits down to eat on the mats in the centre, but just remember to take your shoes off before walking on or across them! There is also a shopping market just behind all the stalls, which is fine for a browse but not worth going out of your way for.
The Details
Where | On Preah Sisowath Quay, find it here on Google Maps. Google Maps
When | Every evening from 5 pm - 11 pm. It’s particularly popular at the weekend when locals visit with family and friends.
Travel Tip | Pickpocket incidents are not uncommon here, so keep an eye out. If going straight back to your hostel or hotel after the night market, you can find tuk-tuks outside the entrance which will take you back for $2-$4.
Explore The Central Market
This pale lemon-yellow Art Deco building is an architectural highlight of Phnom Penh, but would be easy on the eye in any city.
Designed and built by the French in the ‘30s, right in the middle of their period of colonial rule over Cambodia (1867 - 1953), a renovation in 2011 explains the excellent condition of the exterior and much of the interior.
Local markets are our favourite place to pass the time in a new city, and we spent an hour or so just walking around Phsar Thmei (its name in Khmer), going down each of its four ‘spider’s legs’ admiring the details, taking photos, and browsing the hodge-podge of things sold in clustered stalls inside and out.
We recommend you make a point of standing in the centre of the dome, where you can find lots of jewellery, gold, and watch sellers, and looking up. The central market is also an excellent place to have a local’s breakfast or lunch at one of the multitude of food stalls which can be found along one side of the building.
The Details
Where | On Street 128 the city centre, you could enter the market from various streets given its size and design (Google Maps)
When | Open daily from 6.30 am - 5.30 pm.
Tip | The Billabong Hostel is a great place to stay in Phnom Penh a few blocks from the market - it’s got excellent private rooms, dorms, a veggie-friendly restaurant, plus big pool for guests.
Coffee + Street Art On Lane 240
To escape the afternoon heat (it gets really, really hot in Phnom Penh), we walked to this adorable little side street a few blocks from the Royal Palace - it’s a little oasis within the big city.
Nestled in the corner is Artillery Arts Cafe, which is a little business doing everything right. Its fresh, plant-based menu has both filling backpacker fare, health-conscious superfood dishes and smoothies, plus wonderful fresh brunches and side plates. Sipping on their iced coconut milk lattes in the shade was bloody wonderful for an exploration break.
Within the same street-art painted lane, there are a handful of other small socially-focussed businesses selling fair trade artisan goods, sustainable fashion and toiletries, and artworks.
You can find the cafe and the street here on Google Maps.
A Short Stop at Wat Phnom
Temples are a big feature of any Cambodia itinerary - you may have heard of a wee place called Angkor Wat? - but temple fatigue can and will occur on any trip. Before that hits you, Wat Phnom is is definitely worth a stop as you’re walking or tuk-tuking across the city.
Built in 1372, it sits atop the hill which gave Phnom Penh its name, and is the most important spiritual site in the city. Its ivory-white stupa is iconic, various myths and legends surround its origins, whilst the manicured grounds in which the temple is situated are quite serene.
After your stop at Wat Phnom, we recommend continuing your walk along the river to the old French Quarter. Many buildings have faded or been replaced, but there are still pastel-hued glimmers of the architecture of the age - the best examples are found in the Central Post Office (Google Maps) and the surrounding streets.
The Details
Cost | Entry is just $1 per person, payed at the little booth by the eastern staircase. There’s a museum which costs $2 extra, but we didn’t visit it.
Where | Just off the river on 102 Norodom Boulevard (Google Maps).
When | Open daily from 7 am - 6 pm.
Get Creative in Toul Tom Poung District
Contrary to what you might imagine when you first begin planning your trip to Phnom Penh, The Russian Market (Google Maps) isn’t called the Russian Market because it’s stocked up to the gunnels with caviar, vodka, and Putin calendars.
Sorry to disappoint.
Quite simply, it got its name because of the large cohort of Soviet ex-pats that lived and shopped in the area in the 1980s. Fast forward a couple of decades and, although the market itself remains a fixture on tourist itineraries, it’s the neighbourhood itself which is now the appeal.
Toul Tom Poung is Phnom Penh’s creative, hipster hub, with various coffee shops, restaurants, and boutiques creating a vibrant scene which contrast and complement the hectic, authentic local industries in and around the market place. Sundown Social Club, the bar we recommended earlier, is unsurprisingly in this area, but several other places down the side streets that deserve your attention (most are very Western-focussed in their menus and prices, but had a healthy number of young-fish locals drinking or eating at them too):
Vibe | We found their sister restaurant in Siem Reap and bloody LOVED it - food is all vegan, but that should not put anyone off (Google Maps)
Long After Dark | Nighttime whiskies and cocktails in a speak-easy environment (Google Maps)
Lot 369 | A cool little coffee shop to catch up on work or trip planning (Google Maps)
Tini | Blink and you’ll miss this intimate, stylish little design + art cafe - and the coffee is excellent (Google Maps)
Dorsu | A local ethical,, sustainable fashion company creating ‘slow & considered’ basics, their hidden away little shop down a backstreet and on the second-storey is a lovely space (Google Maps)
If we were going to set ourselves up in Phnom Penh for a week or two to catch up on work, this is the neighbourhood we’d try to find an Airbnb. It’s also much more our sort of night-out vibe, especially in comparison to the sleaze bag perverts which call the Riverside’s tourist bars home.
An Evening At The Kickboxing
Whilst would love to be able to share exactly where we spent the Sunday evening in a crowded arena, with ringside seats to a local kickboxing tournament that was actually live on Cambodian telly, the truth is that we don’t actually have a clue. The CEO of our G Adventures group, who we travelled with for two weeks in Cambodia, suggested it to us and, a half hour golden hour tuk-tuk ride and $10 later, we were ushered to our sweat-hitting seats with our 25-cent beers amid the raucous and the ruckus. It was a really fantastic few hours of authentic local entertainment, and we were both quite shocked at how quickly Emily’s apparent bloodlust revealed itself at her firstever live combat event.
The good news is that kickboxing fights like this take place every Saturday and Sunday. The crowd was about 98% local, but groups of barang (foreigner) did join our section as the evening progressed, which means that it’s definitely something which hostels will arrange or be able to share the details on - please let us know if you go there go so we can update the post!
The Details
Cost | $10 each for tuk-tuk return journey + entry
Where | TBC!
When | Saturday + Sunday evenings
If that doesn’t sound like your sort of thing, then perhaps a sunset cruise along the Tonle Sap river may be more suited to your travel style.
Travel Advice for Phnom Penh
For more of our personal advice on how to plan for your time in Phnom Penh, including how to pronounce it correctly, a big robbery risk to avoid, tips on how to negotiate with tuk-tuk drivers, and important info on onward transport connections to the islands or Angkor Wat, read 9 Things To Know Before You Visit Phnom Penh next.
