Famous for its calm pleasant life by the river, charming cafés and old colonial buildings, beautiful sceneries and friendly locals, Kampot is definitely one of the main attractions in Cambodia. If you are looking for a break from the vibrant (but sometimes chaotic) life of Phnom Penh or the party environment of Sihanoukville, this small town in the south, just three hours from the capital and one hour from the most infamous party whirlpool of the country, Kampot is full of little preciosities to discover, plenty of activities to do and, in other hand, plenty of time and space to do precisely nothing. One thing is for sure, there’s no better place to chill out than here!
In Kampot, even the locals take it serious the task of chilling out.
For the most relax experience head to the riverside area, where you can find guesthouses such as Greenhouse, Banya Tree, Olly’s Place, Samon’s Village, or Nagahouse. Most of them you can jump directly from their deck to the river for a clean and refreshing swim (the riverside guesthouses are typically a bit upstream comparing to the city, swimming on the river right in the center is not recommended for the ones preferring to swim in proper water instead of sewage discharges…) Hammocks and relaxed atmosphere with ambient music are the normal scenery on these riverside guesthouses, bring a book or find one in the second shops around the city, meditate or simply look the calm waters of the river passing by: trust us when we say that probably you will end up staying here much more time than what you were initially expecting!
We told you they are experts in relaxing by the river…
But if you are more into exploring the city center, the downtown is also full of cheap guesthouses such as Pepe & The Viking or the Captain Chim (just 3$ for a big bed in their clean and spacious dorms). In terms of sightseeing in the surroundings of this little town, you have from salt fields to pepper farms (the best organic pepper in the world is produced here), and you can engage yourself in cycle tours in the rural areas or hire a motorbike to go explore Bokor Mountain and its magnificent views (there is also a secret lake in the surroundings, ask in your guesthouse for directions), have some climbing adventures with Climbodia or simply explore this beautiful city by foot (Kampot even won an award for being the cleanest city in Cambodia, and in addition to the lack of heavy traffic it makes the perfect city to walk around in its streets).
View of Kampot’s river and the nearby mountains.
We highly recommend you to pick-up a free copy of the Kampot Survival Guide (available in most of the guesthouses and restaurants) to check more info, maps and places to go: you can have a look in one here.
Hope you enjoy your stay in Kampot as much as we do, and if you got curious with this magical town, have a look on the buses available in the Camboticket website!
The famous Durian roundabout, right in the center of Kampot.