Battambang
Battambang is the town people who have been keep recommending and nobody has heard of. Over a million bats pour out of one cave mouth at dusk, and nobody charges to watch.
Battambang in a nutshell
Battambang: what to expect
We read 164,000+ planned stops in Cambodia on Stippl to see how Battambang really gets planned.
Battambang is a working river town in Cambodia's rice bowl, and two things carry it. At Phnom Sampeau, more than a million wrinkle-lipped bats leave one cave mouth in a continuous stream from about half past five, for thirty or forty minutes, and it costs nothing. Phare Ponleu Selpak is the arts school whose circus trains at-risk young people, and its Siem Reap offshoot became the country's best-known cultural show. Around them sit French shophouses with local life still running through them.
Battambang is the marker of a thorough Cambodia trip rather than a stop on the standard one. Its trips carry more Cambodian stops than any others in the country, and almost every one of them also carries Siem Reap, the highest conditional rate between any two destinations here. The places that sit beside it are Kratie, Mondulkiri, Kep and Koh Kong, each of which turns up on under four trips in a hundred.
Stop for 2 nights on the way between Siem Reap and somewhere else. Fewer than one stay in a hundred here runs to five nights, so nobody settles, and four in five placements sit in the middle of a trip. Hire a bicycle: the flat rice lanes, the hanging bridge and the heritage houses at Wat Kor start within minutes of the market. Skip Battambang if your Cambodia time is under a week.
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Anyone on the Siem Reap run
Battambang sits directly on both routes out of Siem Reap, and almost nobody comes here without Siem Reap on the same trip.
Anyone Angkor's crowds wore out
The same country with a fraction of the visitors, and most people give it 2 nights to recover in.
Arts travellers
Phare Ponleu Selpak is a working arts school with a world-class circus, and the town carries a street-art scene and small artspaces besides.
Cyclists
Flat, quiet, and the countryside starts within minutes of the market; a bicycle is the way to see it.
Budget travellers
The cheapest of Cambodia's named stops: rooms from around €10, and the two headline attractions cost nothing and €14.
History travellers
The Killing Cave at Phnom Sampeau is one of the more direct Khmer Rouge sites outside Phnom Penh, presented by people with first-hand accounts.
Maybe not for you: anyone with under a week in Cambodia, since most give it a night or two; anyone wanting nightlife or Kampot's food scene; anyone who needs to fly, because the airport is closed; and anyone coming March to May, the hottest months.
The best time to visit Battambang
Cool dry season
November to February
Dry, cool and the season the town is recommended in, with December the driest month of the year and the countryside rides at their best.
Hot season
March to May
Hotter than Siem Reap in every one of these months and the hottest place we cover in Cambodia. Khmer New Year in mid April falls in the worst week of it.
Wet season
June to October
Green countryside, the river high and the boat from Siem Reap running. October is wetter than September here, which is not what the guides say.
- January is the month most travellers plan Battambang for on Stippl, about 79 days ahead. 20.1% of Battambang plans are made inside a fortnight, which fits a town people add from Siem Reap once they are already there.
- The riverboat from Siem Reap only runs on a high river, roughly July to November. It is the most scenic way to arrive, and it puts the best journey and the best weather in different months; pick one.
- The Phare Ponleu Selpak circus performs on Monday, Thursday and Saturday evenings. It is a fixed schedule and the single thing most likely to decide which nights you stay; book the seat, then the room.
- The bats leave Phnom Sampeau every evening at half past five. A natural event, not a scheduled one, but reliable enough to plan the day around; the tuk-tuk drivers know the hour and the viewpoint.
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Things to do in Battambang
Photo by Siborey Sean via UnsplashThe bat exodus
Be at Phnom Sampeau by five for the continuous stream of over a million bats leaving one cave mouth from about half past five, lasting thirty to forty-five minutes. Free, natural and reliable; the tuk-tuk drivers know the spot.
The Phare Ponleu Selpak circus
See contortion, acrobatics and traditional dance to live music, staged by the arts school that trains at-risk young people, on Monday, Thursday and Saturday evenings, about €14. The schedule decides which nights you stay.
The bamboo train
Ride the flat bamboo platform on two axles along a single track, about €5, at the rebuilt tourist line outside town. Iconic, twenty minutes, and the original line near the airport no longer runs.
The Killing Cave
Climb the same hill as the bat cave to the Khmer Rouge execution site, presented by monks and guides with first-hand accounts, and the hilltop pagoda with its macaques above it. About €3 for the hill, in the afternoon before the bats.
Cycling the rice country
Ride the flat lanes to Wat Kor's heritage wooden houses and the hanging bridge, within minutes of the market, on a bike for about €2 a day or a guided half day for about €15. Mornings.
Wat Banan
Climb the 358 steps to the Angkorian-era hilltop ruin twenty kilometres south, about €2, on the way to or from the bat cave. Do not expect Angkor; expect the view and nobody else.
The neighbourhoods of Battambang
West River
Market, colonial streets, walkable
The town centre on the west bank around Phsar Nath market: the colonial architecture, the street art, the riverside promenade, the museum and the street food, with hotels at every price. For first stays and the town on foot.
Everything walkable, and the market's noise from five in the morning.
East River
Across the bridges, suburban calm
Across the bridges: quieter and more suburban, with a park, an artspace café and the town's most peaceful pagoda, ten minutes' walk from the market. For quiet and for families.
The town without the noise, and a bridge to cross for dinner.
Wat Kor
Village lanes, heritage houses
A few minutes south of the centre and immediately rural: thatched houses, carts, cattle on the lanes, a hanging bridge and two heritage houses, with homestays among them. For the countryside without leaving town.
Village life at the door, and a tuk-tuk for the town's evening.
Along the Sangker
River guesthouses, rice fields
Scattered guesthouses and a few resorts on the river north of town among the rice fields, ten minutes out. For stopping still and for a pool by the water.
Quiet water and the fields, and a ride for everything.
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Where to stay in Battambang
Stay on the west bank near Phsar Nath market for a first visit: it is the only part of town where the food, the ATMs, the agents and the promenade are all inside a few streets. Most people give Battambang 2 nights on Stippl. Rooms are cheap enough that the choice is about location, not budget, and the town is fullest on circus nights: Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
West River
€12–40
Central hotels from €10 and colonial-era boutique conversions, €30 to €70, with the market outside.
East River
€25–45
A handful of quieter mid-range hotels and small resorts with pools, €25 to €40.
Wat Kor
Eco-homestays around €11 and the town's one genuinely luxurious hotel at about €100, a few minutes apart.
Along the Sangker
Riverside guesthouses and a few resorts with pools among the rice fields, €20 to €60.
What to eat in Battambang
The central market and the stalls around it, the cheapest and most local eating in town
Cambodia's pepper-sauce beef, a staple on every English menu here
Steamed fish curry in banana leaf
The Khmer breakfast rice noodle with fish gravy, a morning market dish
Where the town eats after dark, on the west bank
The town has one rooftop bar with a view over it, named unprompted by a first-hand guide
Small, growing, and clustered on the east bank as well as the west
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Battambang customs and what not to do
The Killing Cave is a memorial
Not a sight: guides and monks there give personal accounts and it is harrowing, so go quietly, skip it if you are squeamish, and the camera stays down.
Not used to being looked at
Visitors are a minority in every street outside the few tourist blocks, which is the appeal and the reason to behave like a guest; a greeting and a sampeah go far.
Phare is a school first
The circus was founded in 1994 by young Cambodians returning from a refugee camp on the Thai border and the ticket, about €14, funds the arts school; the show is the by-product.
The pagoda macaques steal
At the hilltop at Phnom Sampeau the monkeys take bags and cameras, not as a metaphor; keep everything zipped and nothing in your hand on the steps.
Do
- Book your nights around the circus schedule if you want to see it
- Get to the bat cave by about five to have somewhere to stand
- Cover shoulders and knees at Wat Sampeau, Wat Kandal and every working pagoda
- Ask which bamboo train you are being taken to
Don't
- Treat the Killing Cave as a photo stop
- Cycle the countryside at midday in April
- Count on the riverboat to Siem Reap outside roughly July to November
- Plan a Battambang flight; the airport is closed
What a Battambang trip costs
Budget
€12–20
Guesthouse or homestay, market food, a bicycle, the bat cave (free).
Mid-range
€35–65
Boutique or colonial hotel, a private guide for the day, the good restaurants.
High-end
€65+
The heritage hotels in Wat Kor, private car and driver.
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Fun facts about Battambang
Phare Ponleu Selpak was founded in 1994 by refugees who drew in a camp. The young Cambodians came back from the Thai border with their art teacher, and the school's circus became the country's best-known cultural export.
Over a million bats leave one cave at Phnom Sampeau every evening. The stream runs for 30 to 45 minutes without a break at dusk, and nobody charges to watch it.
Battambang province is Cambodia's rice bowl. It is the country's principal rice-growing region, with a milling industry to match, and the flat irrigated fields are what the bicycle tours are for.
December is drier than January in Battambang, 12 mm against 14. It is the only weather station in Cambodia where that is true; everywhere else the dry season keeps drying into the new year.
The town's name is usually glossed as the lost stick. The folk story is about a legendary giant's staff that disappeared here, and the giant's statue stands on the road into town.
The 2019 census put Battambang third, not second, among Cambodia's cities. It was the second city historically and is still described that way, but Siem Reap overtook it with 119,251 people counted in the city proper.
Local tips for Battambang
The half-day tuk-tuk loop
It bundles the bamboo train, Wat Banan or Phnom Sampeau, the countryside villages and the bats at dusk, about €15 for the driver. Every guesthouse arranges it; ask for the afternoon version.
A bicycle in town
The town is flat and compact and better on a bike than in a tuk-tuk, about €2 a day. The countryside lanes to Wat Kor are within minutes of the market.
A road destination
The Poipet railway is suspended and the airport shut, so despite sitting on the Thai corridor it is reached by bus: three hours from Siem Reap for about €7, or the riverboat in the wet.
How long to stay
Most people give Battambang 2 nights on Stippl, and a third stay one. The circus schedule, on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, decides which nights.
The road is the risk
As everywhere in Cambodia, and the motorbike taxi up the narrow road to Phnom Sampeau is its own risk. Take the footpath up, and come down before the bats fly.
The caves are unlit
The killing cave and the walk-in caves nearby are uneven underfoot with no lighting. A torch, real shoes, and not in flip-flops.
Battambang questions, answered
It is barely a detour. Battambang sits on the road between Siem Reap and both Phnom Penh and the Thai border, so it costs you a night rather than a day of driving, and nearly every trip that carries it also carries Siem Reap. Slot it into Stippl on the leg you were going to drive anyway.
Two nights and one full day. The Battambang stops planned on Stippl run to 2 nights. The day covers the tuk-tuk loop out to the hill temples and the bat cave at dusk; the second evening is for the circus, if the schedule lands right.
It is what 36.3% of Battambang stops planned on Stippl get, and it is tight. The sights are a half-day loop that finishes at the bat cave around sunset, so a single night means arriving early and leaving late. The second night is what buys you an evening in the town itself.
Not sensibly: only 2.10% of Battambang stops planned on Stippl are same-day, because the nearest base is three hours away by bus. It is somewhere you sleep on the way between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, which is exactly what makes it cheap to include.
A bamboo platform on two axles, pushed along a single track by a small motor. There are two now: a newer purpose-built tourist line and an older, rougher one the locals call the lorry. The old one is the better ride, so ask which you are being taken to before you agree a price.
Around dusk, every evening, out of a cave in the cliff at Phnom Sampeau, and the column takes half an hour or more to empty. It is free and it is the best thing here. Get there before the light goes if you want somewhere to stand, and bring a torch for the walk down.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Battambang in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
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