Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh skyline from Tonle Sap River
Time spent: 28 Days; 12 Sept 2026 - 10 Oct 2026
Elevation: 39 ft
Currency: Cambodian Riel and US Dollar
Lodging Cost: $17.13 per night AirBnb
Author's note: I try to list all costs on this site in both local currency and US dollars. For Cambodia I didn't bother with the clutter. It is an easy 4000-to-1 conversion and even though I don't recommend bothering with them, the USD is an officially currency here and accepted everywhere.
Crossing the Vietnam Border into Cambodia
Also contrary to what you may read online, Cambodia is not as dollarized as the internet makes it out to be. ATMs here give $100 bills which are a nightmare to exchange, and vendors are annoying about the perfection of the bills anyway. Credit cards are great because they display the price in dollars and charge you that exact amount. I haven't seen a single person use actual USD bills since I've been here. Riel is infinitely easier and there are no situations where USD is required. (Even though you read you need USD for extending your visa, that isn't true; the agents that do it accept credit cards with around a 3-5% fee).
Border crossing between Vietnam and Cambodia
There isn't much to this as long as you do a little planning ahead.
I'm assuming you already went here and got your visa in order online.
But you do HAVE to have a paper copy. A PDF on your phone WILL NOT DO. A good tip for this anywhere is just go to any major hotel, even if you aren't staying there. Ask them if they can print your visa for you (you will need two copies) and they totally understand and will be happy to do so. They will give you their email and just send them the file from your phone.
The bigger the hotel, the better, and the more likely the front desk speaks English.
Also prepare for parting with your passport for a little while. I loathe doing this, but it is simply part of the process heading to Cambodia. The driver will collect your paper visa and passport. For some reason, instead of going through one by one and handing your passport to the border agent, the bus driver gives them all to the agent and then a Cambodian official will hand them all back stamped.
There are some travelers who are always nervous when talking to a border agent, even when doing nothing wrong, who may prefer this process because there is no "Q & A." But I just do not like my passport being out of my sight and hated it.
(Imagine how I felt about the process to extend the 30-day visa to 60 days. You have to give it up for a week or so. Click here to see how to do that).
This is also where you get a lunch break. I'd recommend using the ABA ATM here and grabbing some Riel, contrary to what you may read, the fees aren't any different than anywhere else.
Arriving in Phnom Penh from Ho Chi Minh City
There was a little bit of a hiccup getting into Phnom Penh from Ho Chi Minh City. A lot of the people on the bus were unreasonably pissed off about it, but I thought it was as close to a non-issue when traveling as could have happened. In fact, I only even mention it to give any readers coming from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh a heads up, because after being here for a month, I don't think it was a "hiccup" at all, but just "the plan," and I don't know why they weren't upfront.
See, the Giant Ibis bus station (which is an excellent bus service that I would recommend for any traveler in Southeast Asia to take whenever possible) is near Chaktomuk Walk Street, a MASSIVE every-weekend event. They close off the road and HUNDREDS of vendors set up shop with street food, clothes, and other stuff. It is one of the biggest and best such markets I have ever seen on my travels.
But the bus can't get there if it gets in around dark, which it very likely will, so they dropped us in front of NagaWorld Casino. My apartment was very close to the bus station, but it was like "oh well I have to take a $3 taxi," and I honestly would have assumed most people on the bus were staying at the casino, but it really didn't seem to be the case. So many English speakers were bitching and moaning about being dropped "in the middle of nowhere with no warning," but they were actually dropped in front of one of the biggest landmarks in the city.
The only thing I could assume is they were mostly broke backpackers expecting to be dropped off at the bus station, which is kind of near the red light district and likely where their hostels were.
One more quick thing to mention (part of which I found kind of funny) is the casinos in Cambodia.
While NagaWorld has a special deal and is the only one within 100 km or so, Cambodia has a shitload of casinos. But all of the casinos are strictly for tourists. Locals are not allowed to gamble in them.
Vietnam has similar gambling rules, although with exceptions for high net worth citizens.
But Cambodia sort of gave them the middle finger and there are TONS of casinos right on the border that you'll see if you take the bus. I found the hypocrisy a little funny. Like a church bake sale selling pot brownies to everyone except their parishioners. "Yeah we think gambling is bad but we also really like money."
Walking Street on a weekend
Royal Palace Park. This is right outside the palace where the king lives.
Sisowath Quay and the Riverside Bar District
Sisowath Quay is the street along the Tonle Sap River, and honestly, it is about the only safe place in Phnom Penh to walk without constantly worrying about traffic. It has a nice long riverwalk during the day, but it has the unfortunate drawback of very little shade and being brutally hot if you are just looking for a nice afternoon stroll. But as I mentioned earlier, on Saturday and Sunday nights, the riverwalk is filled with vendors and the street is blocked off for a truly amazing night market.
The riverwalk during the day. Plenty of space but so damn hot.
One of the many, many vendors on the riverwalk during the weekend nights. Best place to get a variety of local foods.
When I first started traveling, I used to consider a "walkable city" to mean one where you are always near food vendors, grocery stores, and entertainment, somewhere you didn't need a car. That definition changed for me a bit when I got to Asia, and especially Phnom Penh. Now I take it a little more literally. Yeah, all that stuff is always nearby, but the sidewalks everywhere are packed with parked motorbikes and street vendors. Pretty much everywhere you go, you will be walking directly in the street.
I actually got clipped by a scooter's side mirror. It didn't even leave a bruise, but it really opened my eyes about staying alert here. And it isn't even easy to just hug the edge of the road, because you'll constantly run into parked tuk-tuks doing the same thing. To clear them, you'll nearly have to step into the middle of the street for a second.
The night market is about as close to a family-friendly vibe as you'll see here. But once you head just a block or so off Sisowath, you'll hit the bar district. This place is pretty nuts. Well over 100 bars packed into a six-to-nine-block area. It can be a great time with beers for under a buck, but it can also be insanely annoying. Most of the bars have 10 or 15 girls standing outside hollering for you to come have a drink, and when you do, they are going to bug the shit out of you to buy them one.
Everywhere you walk the sidewalk is going to be overflowing.
If you decide to buy them one, pay attention to your tab. A beer for you will be about $0.75, but that exact same beer for a girl costs three times as much. "Lady Drinks," they call them. First time I have ever come across this business model, but it is what it is I suppose. After a few "no's," they generally leave you alone. I liked to come by, have a couple of beers, play on my phone, listen to some tunes in the bar for 45 minutes, and head home. A lot of places even have free pool tables. Total cost: about $2, but if you're gonna play pool pony up for a few drinks.
Honestly, I still don't understand how the economics of everyone getting paid there works. The district has people hanging out, but not THAT many. A lot of the smaller bars will only have one or two people sitting inside all night.
On a few of the main corners they have some larger restaurants and legit bars, but most are tiny bars, maybe 15 feet wide and 50 feet deep and plenty of dank. I loved them all!
Every bar you pass they collectively shout "HEELLLOOO". It's about the only English they know.
Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek Genocidal Center
These two are absolute must-visit places if you come to Phnom Penh, but they are not what anyone would consider fun. I visited both, did some additional background research, and wrote a blog post with much more detail about the Cambodian genocide that you can read here.
I visited these on two separate days, but I'd recommend doing them back to back. That recommendation is purely for practical logistics, as I've read about some visitors finding the subject matter too heavy to process in a single day.
The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, more often referred to as the Killing Fields, is located on the edge of town. You'll have no trouble booking a Grab, heading to one destination, exploring it, and then moving directly to the next.
Tuol Sleng, or S-21, was a high-security prison where the Khmer Rouge brought suspected dissidents, and oh boy...they suspected almost everyone. If your hands weren't calloused enough, you could be sent to a place like this and tortured under the assumption that you weren't a "working man" and opposed the regime. S-21 was the worst of the worst. People sent here faced an almost 100% death rate. The best estimates place around 18,000 people sent through its gates, with only 12 known survivors. Three are still alive today, and one of them, Chum Mey, was actually present at the site on the day I visited.
When you visit S-21, entry is $5, plus an additional $5 for the audio guide. I'd highly recommend getting it. I fucked up and missed out on the audio guide because I got a little confused at the counter and thought they were asking if I wanted a guided human tour. I didn't want a group tour, but I definitely wanted the audio guide. Fortunately, there are plenty of signs providing historical context throughout the grounds.
Also, I have been on prison tours before where you only see a couple of cells or modern reconstructions. This place consists of several full buildings, three floors each, and you can walk into almost every single room.
Some of these had individual beds where torture took place, others had more cells.
Smaller individual cells inside the larger rooms
The Killing Fields has a $6 entry fee and comes with the audio guide, and for this place I see why it is included. You wouldn't get much from this tour without it. A lot of the buildings they discuss have been torn down.
This place is humbling. It really wasn't what I expected. It was actually a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I mean, I don't know why I thought it would be bigger, but the guide does a great job of explaining everything to you. There is a small lake that still to this day has bone fragments float to the surface, and volunteers regularly gather these remains to inter them into some sort of final resting place.
There were many fields like this across Cambodia, but this is the most infamous and where the memorial was built. The memorial contains the skeletal remains of many of the victims, and they are on display.
Plaque outside the memorial
It's hard to fathom that this field was a mass grave to 20,000 people.
Choeung Ek Memorial
I don't know why, but I found the text on this sign just jarring. I'm not sure if it's toned down at all in Khmer, or if that is just the way Cambodians speak, but the sign reads: "This tree which the executioner smashed the children's heads against it." The executioners saved bullets by grabbing small children by the ankles and swinging them into this tree.
Ta Prohm and Chisor Mountain Temple
One thing I found really strange about Phnom Penh is there really weren't any tour offices. I've been to tiny towns in Peru that have had a few places able to schedule tours to the surrounding areas, but besides the open-air buses that give you a tour of the city, I really didn't see any places offering excursions.
Now, that doesn't mean there aren't any things to do, though. About 90 minutes south of town, there were two ruins I really wanted to see: Ta Prohm Temple in Takeo and Chisor Mountain Temple.
First off, there is something about this town you should know. Tuk-tuk drivers are annoying as SHIT. They will pull up next to you and follow you for blocks trying to get you to take a ride. I found it baffling because walking is something most people can do on their own, and if they need a ride, they will let you know. You don't use salesmanship to convince someone to take a ride—they either need one or they don't.
Well, I did ask one driver if he knew of a way to get to Chisor Mountain, and he said he could take me. Now, there was absolutely no fucking way I was riding for an hour and a half one way in a tuk-tuk, but it got me thinking about looking for a private driver.
After a little research, I realized Grab had an option to rent a driver by time instead of location. It was around $50 to get one for six hours in a nice comfy car with AC, and I just told him where I wanted to go. I actually almost felt bad because the driver had a pretty nice electric car, and it takes a few bumpy roads to get out there.
This reminded me of something straight out of The Jungle Book
Ta Prohm was the first stop just because it was closest. I would recommend coming here, but don't get it confused with the Ta Prohm in Siem Reap. There is another temple by the same name that was featured in the movie Tomb Raider. This isn't that place, but it is still cool. It is also right next to an active pagoda, and admission is totally free. You likely won't even see another tourist here. This spot is pretty compact, and you can see the whole area in about 30 or 40 minutes.
Next door there is a fairly decent zoo, or so I heard, and a few Buddhist temples, but if you're up for a little exercise, I'd skip that shit and head straight to Chisor Mountain Temple. This place is currently trying to get named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It is about 400 steps to the top, and there isn't much shade, so bring some water.
At the top, there is a decent old temple, but more importantly, a HELLUVA view.
Now, there are two ways up. I just chose the route I did because that's where my driver happened to be. I think what I did was best, but the other 60 or 70 Cambodians doing the opposite seemed to disagree.
If you look at Google Maps, you will see the Western and Eastern stairways. The Western side is where I started, and I took it up. It was a nice, normal, high staircase. I passed a lot of people going down, but didn't see anyone else going up. I asked the driver to circle around to the other side so I could come back down that way.
If you have any kind of physical ailments at all, I would skip the Eastern stairway. Just turn around at the top and head back down the Western side when you're done. You don't really miss much, and the Eastern stairway is rough. I thought going down it was harder than climbing up the Western side. It is exactly what you would expect a 1,000-year-old staircase to be: very steep, with loose, uneven rocks. There is a loose rope to help you down the steepest part, but even as it levels out, the descent just plain sucks. My ankles were killing me by the time we finished.
Western Staircase
Eastern Staircase
The temples at the top of Chisor. Many had statues inside.
Top of the Eastern Staircase
Final Thoughts on Phnom Penh
I really enjoyed by time here. I partied more here than I think I have in any other place I have been. It would have been fun to have some friends back home with me. I tried to not go to the same bar twice and honestly it was pretty easy, I think you could go out every weekend for a year and not hit the same bar twice.
I also loved the hours the city runs on and I'm not just talking about bars. I am working a night shift back home so getting food after work was limited when I was in Vietnam, but here tons on food places are open until at least 5AM if not 24 hours.
All that said, would I come back? Probably not unless I was in some sort of Leaving Las Vegas mood and wanted to drink myself to death, I don't think I have a reason to come back. The walkability is a real killer for me. Plus, while I did meet plenty of cool people from all over the world in the bars, I met a few skeevy mother fuckers too.
This was a great party town and not half bad to nomad in. I loved my Airbnb and wish I could have done the six weeks I usually do when visiting a city but Cambodia's tourist visa is a bit shorter than what I'm used to in South America.
It is a fine spot to visit as a tourist but it is not family-friendly whatsoever. If you got kids and want to vacation in Cambodia, go to Siem Reap.
Inside the grounds of the Royal Palace
