Things to Do in Cambodia: A Traveler’s Honest Guide

I landed in Phnom Penh with a loose plan and about three weeks up my sleeve. I left Cambodia wishing I’d blocked out five. That gap between what I expected and what actually happened is the whole reason I’m writing this. Most lists of things to do in Cambodia read like they were assembled from the same six blog posts about Cambodia, recycling the same photos and the same generic advice.

Mine comes from tuk-tuk rides across Cambodia, a sunburn I still regret, and more than one plate of amok I’d happily eat again tomorrow. Below you’ll find the temples everyone talks about, plus a few they don’t. You’ll also get honest notes on budget and straight answers to the questions I had before I went: is four days in Cambodia really enough, and how far does $100 actually stretch here?

What Is Cambodia Best Known For?

Ask most people and they’ll say Angkor Wat, and they’re not wrong. Cambodia is best known for its impressive temples, its Khmer Rouge history, and a coastline that’s quietly become one of Southeast Asia’s better-value beach escapes. Cambodia is located halfway between Thailand and Vietnam, with Laos bordering the north. It’s often treated as a quick add-on to a longer South East Asia itinerary. That’s a mistake.

Foreign visitors who rush the country miss most of what makes it worth the trip. Cambodia rewards travelers who slow down. Between the temples of Angkor, the floating villages on Tonle Sap, and islands like Koh Rong, there’s enough here to fill two weeks without repeating a single day. Every city and small town has its own rhythm, and Cambodia still feels genuinely wonderful to stumble through.

Cambodia’s Khmer Empire once stretched across most of mainland South East Asia, reaching into what’s now Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. The physical evidence of that power is still standing in Siem Reap province. Then came the twentieth century, and the Khmer Rouge regime nearly erased everything the empire built. Understanding both halves of that story — the golden age and the tragedy — changes how you experience the country. It certainly changed how I experienced mine.

The Top 5 Things to Do in Cambodia

If you only have a handful of days, here’s what I’d prioritize, ranked by how much they’re worth the effort of getting there.

1.      Watch sunrise at Angkor Wat, then spend the rest of the day exploring Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm.

2.      Wander Phnom Penh’s Russian Market and riverside for an afternoon of people watching and street food.

3.      Take a boat out to Koh Rong for two or three nights of actual beach time.

4.      Visit Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields to understand the Khmer Rouge era properly.

5.      Get off the beaten track to Kampot, for pepper farms, a slow river, and a much quieter pace.

That’s the shortlist. Everything else in this guide expands on why each earns its spot, plus a handful of temples and villages most first-time visitors never hear about.

Angkor Wat and the Temples of Siem Reap

Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world. No amount of photos prepares you for the scale of it up close. The temple was built in the 12th century as a Hindu monument to Vishnu before later becoming Buddhist. It anchors the wider Angkor Archaeological Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that holds more than a thousand temples in total. I bought the three-day pass rather than the single-day one. It was the best decision I made in Cambodia. One day at Angkor Wat isn’t enough. The smaller temples are often just as memorable as the headline act.

Beyond Angkor Wat Itself

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm is the temple everyone recognizes from photos, half-swallowed by silk-cotton tree roots that have grown straight through the stonework. It’s less restored than Angkor Wat, and that’s exactly the appeal. You’re walking through something the jungle is still actively reclaiming. Banteay Srei, about 25 kilometers further out, is smaller and pink-toned, carved from fine-grained sandstone that let artisans go far more intricate than anywhere else in the park.

Locals call it the jewel of Khmer art, and after seeing the detail on the lintels, I understood why. Bayon, one of the temples inside Angkor Thom, is worth the stop for its stone faces alone. I counted towers until I lost track, and every one had a slightly different expression carved into it.

Koh Ker

If you’ve got a spare day and don’t mind a bumpy road, Koh Ker is worth the trip north of Siem Reap. It was briefly the capital of the Khmer Empire in the 10th century. Its main structure, Prasat Thom, is a genuinely startling stepped pyramid you can still climb via a wooden staircase. Compare that to Preah Vihear, perched on a cliff edge near the Dangrek Mountains along the Thai border. You start to see how far the Khmer Empire’s ambitions stretched beyond Angkor itself. Preah Vihear is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right, listed separately from the main Angkor Archaeological Park, which surprises a lot of first-time visitors. Both sites see a fraction of Angkor Wat’s crowds, which for me was half the draw.

Preah Vihear

Some travelers combine Preah Vihear with a border crossing into Laos further north. The overland route from northern Cambodia into southern Laos has become far more straightforward in recent years. I didn’t have time on that trip. It’s on the list for next time, along with a slower loop through Laos itself.

Back in Siem Reap town at night, I caught an Apsara dance show over dinner — a traditional performance art rooted in the same Angkor-era carvings you’ll have spent the day looking at on temple walls. It’s touristy, sure. The costumes are wonderful, and the slow, deliberate hand movements make more sense once you know what the gestures represent. It’s a wonderful, small window into Khmer storytelling. Locals in the audience seemed just as engaged as the visitors around me.

Between Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Bayon, and the outlying temples, plan on at least two full days before the temples start to blur together.

Practical notes on visiting Cambodia’s temples:

●      Buy your Angkor pass early in the morning before the ticket booth queue builds up

●      A one-day pass costs around $37, a three-day pass roughly $62, and a seven-day pass about $72

●      Hire a tuk-tuk driver for the full day rather than negotiating per stop — it’s cheaper and less stressful

●      Bring more water than you think you need; the heat inside the temples is relentless by mid-morning

Phnom Penh: Cambodia’s Capital City

Phnom Penh doesn’t get nearly the credit Siem Reap does. Most travelers rush through this river city on their way somewhere else. I did the opposite and gave it four days, and I don’t regret a single one. Phnom Penh is a busy, unpolished city. I mean that as a compliment — this is a place to explore on foot rather than tick off from a checklist. The Royal Palace showcases classic Khmer architecture, all gold roofs and manicured gardens. It’s an easy half-day alongside the nearby National Museum. From there, the Russian Market is where I spent an entire wet-season afternoon. I wove through stalls of textiles, secondhand books, and food vendors.

The riverside promenade, where the Tonle Sap meets the Mekong River, is where the city actually breathes. Locals jog there at dawn, aerobics groups gather at dusk. By night it turns into a strip of bars and street food carts. It’s one of the best people watching spots I found anywhere in the world. It costs nothing to sit there with an iced coffee for an hour and watch the world go by.

Confronting Cambodia’s Recent History

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek are not easy visits, and I won’t pretend otherwise. Tuol Sleng was a high school before the Khmer Rouge converted it into Security Prison 21. Walking through the classrooms-turned-cells is confronting in a way that stays with you. The Khmer Rouge regime ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. An estimated 1.7 to 2 million Cambodians died from execution, starvation, and forced labor during those four years.

Choeung Ek, one of many killing fields across the country, now holds a memorial stupa filled with recovered skulls. I’d recommend the audio guide at both sites — it’s narrated partly by survivors. It adds context you won’t get from the exhibits alone. These stops are difficult, but I think they’re essential to understanding modern Cambodia rather than optional extras.

Islands and Beaches: Koh Rong and the Southern Coast

Koh Rong

Cambodia’s southern coast surprised me more than almost anywhere else in the country. Koh Rong is the largest and most popular island off Sihanoukville. Long Set Beach stretches roughly seven kilometers of genuinely white sand. The water off the northern end is calm enough for lazy all-day swimming. The island has leaned into backpacker nightlife around the main pier. Walk twenty minutes in either direction and you’ll find quieter stretches with barely another soul on them. There’s a small cluster of other islands nearby, each with its own personality once you get off the main boat route.

Southern Coast

For something calmer, I preferred Koh Rong Samloem, its smaller neighbor, where the beaches are just as good but the bars are fewer. Night kayaking tours there let you paddle out and watch bioluminescent plankton light up the water with every stroke. It’s genuinely one of the more surreal things I’ve done on any trip, anywhere. Further south, Koh Tonsay, better known as Rabbit Island, is barely developed at all. Just a handful of simple wooden platform bungalows, fresh seafood cooked right on the beach, and not much else. It’s the kind of island where the day’s biggest decision is which side of the beach to nap on. That’s precisely the appeal.

Kep, the small town nearby, deserves its own mention for the Crab Market alone. Fresh blue crab, cooked to order and doused in Kampot pepper sauce, gets eaten at a plastic table a few meters from the boats that caught it that morning. It’s one of the simplest, best meals I had anywhere in Cambodia. If you’re island-hopping down here, Kep is also the easiest jumping-off point for a quick hop out to Rabbit Island, so it’s worth timing your visit to the crab market around the boat schedule.

Kampot, Pepper Farms, and the Slower Side of Cambodia

Kampot is the town I’d send anyone chasing a slower pace, well off the beaten track compared to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. It sits on a lazy river with French colonial shopfronts lining the main streets. A late afternoon sunset cruise there is close to essential. Locals gather along the riverfront as the light fades. It’s an easy place to explore on foot for a couple of unhurried days.

Kampot pepper carries Protected Geographical Indication status, similar to Champagne or Parmigiano-Reggiano. Chefs around the world specifically request it. I toured a working pepper farm just outside town and tasted red, black, and white peppercorns straight off the vine. I genuinely could tell the difference for the first time in my life. It’s a small thing, but it stuck with me.

Nearby, the Cardamom Mountains offer proper jungle trekking and a natural habitat for wildlife you won’t spot easily elsewhere in Cambodia, including a small population of Asian elephants, so having a reliable Cambodia travel eSIM for constant data access can be especially useful when you’re far from major towns. If you’d rather see elephants without the trek, Mondulkiri province in the northeast is home to the Elephant Valley Project, an ethical sanctuary that rescues elephants from logging and tourism work.

There are no rides on offer here. You walk alongside the elephants through the forest while they forage, which felt far more honest than anything involving a saddle. The Elephant Valley Project also partners with nearby local villages. The guides who led our jungle walk grew up in the area and clearly knew every elephant’s history by name.

The Mekong, Floating Villages, and Rural Cambodia

The Mekong River defines huge stretches of Cambodia, running all the way from its source near the Vietnam border down through the country. A few hours on the Mekong River will show you a side of Cambodia most itineraries skip entirely. Near Kratie, in northern Cambodia, small boats head out at sunrise to spot the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin, with only a few dozen left in this stretch of the Mekong. I went out at dawn and got lucky. Three dolphins surfaced within ten minutes of the engine cutting out. The locals running the boat seemed almost as thrilled as I was.

Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia, floods and shrinks dramatically with the seasons. Its floating villages adjust their entire structure around that rhythm. Houses, schools, and even pig pens rise and fall with the water. It’s one of the more genuinely eye-opening things to do in Cambodia if you want a look at daily life away from temples and beaches.

In Battambang, Cambodia’s understated second city, the Bamboo Railway is a strange, delightful holdover: flat bamboo platforms on wheels, powered by a small engine, that locals once used as informal transport along old rail lines. It’s touristy now. It’s still a fun half-hour through green fields and small villages that tour buses never reach.

Khmer Cuisine Worth Traveling For

Khmer cuisine doesn’t get the international recognition Thai or Vietnamese food does, and that’s genuinely Cambodia’s loss. Fish amok, a coconut curry steamed in banana leaf, was the dish I ordered most. Don’t skip prahok, the pungent fermented fish paste that shows up in half the country’s cooking, or teuk trey, the sharp, sweet-sour dipping sauce that turns simple grilled meat into something memorable.

I took a cooking class in Siem Reap that started with a walk through a local market — genuinely useful if you want to recreate any of it back home. Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Battambang all run similar classes. Cambodia now has a solid spread of vegetarian and plant-based restaurants too, if that’s more your pace.

How Far Does $100 Go in Cambodia?

Cambodia remains one of the more affordable countries in South East Asia to explore. On $100, a budget traveler can comfortably cover close to three full days: dorm beds or basic guesthouses run $5 to $15 a night, street food meals cost $1.50 to $3. A full day with a tuk-tuk driver is usually $15 to $20. Mid-range travelers should budget closer to $60 to $100 per day for a private room, sit-down meals, and the odd paid activity.

As of 2025, entrance fees are the one place costs jump — a three-day Angkor pass alone is $62 — so factor that in before you assume Cambodia will be dirt cheap start to finish. Cambodia runs almost entirely on US dollars in tourist areas, with Cambodian Riel handed back only as small change. That makes budgeting refreshingly simple compared to countries where you’re juggling exchange rates constantly, especially if you’re pairing it with budget travel through nearby Thailand using an eSIM.

Is 4 Days Enough for Cambodia?

Four days is enough for Cambodia if your trip is limited to the Angkor temples. Honestly not much more than that. I’d allocate three full days to Angkor Wat and the surrounding temple complex, with the fourth spent recovering, wandering the town center, or taking a day excursion to Koh Ker or Beng Mealea.

What four days won’t give you is Phnom Penh, the southern coast, or anywhere rural, and you’ll feel that absence. If you can stretch to seven to ten days, add Phnom Penh and either Kampot or Koh Rong. With two weeks, you can comfortably work in Battambang, Kratie, and Mondulkiri as well, and potentially line up your broader South East Asia route with the best time to visit Thailand by season and region. I’ve done the rushed version and the slower version. The slower one is the trip I actually remember in detail.

Practical Tips Before You Visit Cambodia

Most visitors, including travelers from Australia, the US, UK, and EU, need a visa. It’s straightforward to arrange on arrival at the international airport in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap, or online in advance. Cambodia’s climate is tropical, with a wet season roughly from May to October and a drier, cooler stretch from November to February that’s genuinely the most comfortable time to explore.

I traveled in the shoulder season and dealt with a couple of short, heavy downpours, but nothing that derailed a single day, even when I crossed over to Indonesia later and relied on the best Indonesia eSIM options for multi-island trips.

A few things I wish someone had told me before visiting Cambodia: keep small-denomination dollars on hand for tuk-tuks and market stalls, dress modestly at temples (shoulders and knees covered). Don’t expect fast internet everywhere outside the main towns and cities. None of that should put you off. It’s part of what keeps Cambodia feeling less packaged than some of its neighbors, whether you’re island-hopping the south or working through the northern temples one by one, or combining it with a stopover in Singapore using a flexible Singapore travel eSIM plan.

Final Thoughts on Visiting Cambodia

Cambodia isn’t a country you tick off in a weekend. Every time I meet someone planning a rushed two-day stopover, I try to talk them into at least a week. Angkor Wat alone justifies the trip, but it’s the tree roots at Ta Prohm, the fine carving at Banteay Srei, Kampot’s pepper farms, a plate of crab in Kep, and a quiet dawn spent watching dolphins on the Mekong that turned my trip from good into genuinely memorable.

Start with the temples, build in time for the coast. Don’t skip Phnom Penh’s harder history — it’s the piece that makes sense of everything else. However you shape your itinerary, give Cambodia more time than you think it needs. I did, eventually, and it was still too short.