Kratie
Kratie has the last real pod of Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong, hunted for their oil under the Khmer Rouge and counted upward every year since 2015. The sunset here is the river's best.
Kratie in a nutshell
Kratie: what to expect
What follows sits on 164,000+ stops planned in Cambodia on Stippl.
Kratie is a colonial river town on the Mekong, and the Irrawaddy dolphins are why it is on any itinerary at all. They live in deep pools at Kampi, fifteen kilometres north, watched from a long-boat in the early afternoon, and they are critically endangered. Koh Trong is the other half of the town and barely known: a three-kilometre sandbar island five minutes across by ferry, with a flat loop past pagodas, a floating Vietnamese village and a sand beach.
Kratie opens more Cambodian legs than anywhere except the capital. One in six of its placements is the first stop of the country, and the Laos border two hundred kilometres north is the reason. Its two strongest partners, Kampong Cham and Mondulkiri, are stronger than any other pairing in Cambodia, which is an eastern loop showing up in the plans without anyone naming it.
A bicycle for one of your 2 nights is what makes the stop. Almost nobody passes through without sleeping, because it is four hours from anywhere in either direction, and travellers add it later than any other Cambodian stop, often while already on the road. Skip Kratie if your Cambodia time is short, and do not come expecting nightlife or a food scene, because the appeal is that there is not much to do.
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Wildlife travellers
Kratie is one of very few places on earth to see Mekong Irrawaddy dolphins, and the best of them.
Anyone crossing to Laos
The border is 200 km north and Kratie is the natural stop; more Cambodian trips open here than anywhere else in the country.
Anyone bound for the east
Kratie is on the road to Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri, and a large share of trips to both pass through it.
Cyclists
Koh Trong is flat, car-free and circumnavigable in a morning on a bicycle that costs under €2 to hire.
Anyone wanting rural Cambodia
Kratie has not much to do, and that is the appeal; most people give it 2 nights of exactly that.
Families
A boat trip, an island, bicycles and a turtle centre, at village prices.
Maybe not for you: anyone on a short Cambodia trip, since it is four hours each way from Phnom Penh at best; anyone wanting nightlife or a food scene; and anyone who needs a guaranteed wildlife sighting, because the dolphins are wild.
The best time to visit Kratie
Cool dry season
November to February
The river low, Koh Trong at its largest and the dolphins concentrated in the deep pools. December is the driest month in the whole country and the pick.
Hot season
March to May
The hottest readings of any station we cover in Cambodia, and cycling the island in April is a bad idea. Khmer New Year in mid April falls in the worst fortnight of it.
Wet season
June to October
The Mekong high, Koh Trong much smaller and the roads from Phnom Penh worse. Bon Om Touk in October or November marks the river's turn and is a river town's biggest date.
- January is the month most travellers plan Kratie for on Stippl, and Cambodia as a whole is planned about 78 days ahead. 22.6% of Kratie plans are made inside a fortnight, the highest share in the country, which fits a stop people add on the road to Laos.
- Time the day, not just the month. The early afternoon is the better window for a dolphin sighting; with one night, arrive in time for it and do the island in the morning.
- The dolphins are easiest in the dry season because the river is low. From November to February the Irrawaddy dolphins concentrate in the deep pools at Kampi; in the wet season the same pools are lost in a much wider river.
- The central market is a dawn thing. It is at its fullest and most photogenic before seven and empties by mid morning; a late breakfast misses it entirely.
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Things to do in Kratie
Photo by Bibek Raj Shrestha via Unsplash
Photo by Kiensvay via WikimediaThe Irrawaddy dolphins at Kampi
Take a long-boat on the Mekong fifteen kilometres north of town, about €9 at the ticket booth, in the early afternoon. Sightings are likely, not guaranteed; the dolphins surface as a dark wave rather than leaping.
Cycling Koh Trong
Take the five-minute ferry and a €2 bicycle for the flat loop of the island: pagodas, a floating Vietnamese village, rice paddy and a sand beach. Half a day, and the homestays serve lunch.
The Mekong sunset from the riverfront
Sit on the riverfront promenade at the end of the day for one of the best sunsets on the river, free. The bars along the front pour from five.
The 100 Pillar Pagoda
Ride thirty-five kilometres north to Sambor for one of the largest wats in Cambodia, white and flag-hung with floor-to-ceiling frescoes inside, free. A morning by scooter, with the dolphins on the way back.
The central market at dawn
Walk the market before mid morning for the river fish, the produce and the local kralan, sticky rice roasted in bamboo, free. Breakfast from the stalls for a euro.
The Mekong Turtle Conservation Centre
Visit the project for Cantor's giant softshell turtle at Sambor, the province's other endangered emblem, about €4. Combine with the pagoda; the hatchlings are released in the wet season.
The neighbourhoods of Kratie
The riverfront
Hotels facing the Mekong, sunset
The whole of downtown: a row of hotels and restaurants facing the Mekong, the ferry pier and the sunset, walkable end to end in ten minutes. For first stays and for the best sunset on this stretch.
Everything the town has and the sunset, and the river premium on the room.
Behind the market
Cheaper, where the town shops
A block or two back from the water around the central market: cheaper, less view, and where the town actually shops, with plain guesthouses. For saving money and for the morning market.
Rooms without the river premium, and no view.
Koh Trong
The island, homestays, no cars
The sandbar opposite, five minutes by ferry: homestays and one villa resort among pagodas, mango trees and rice paddy, with no cars. For slowing down and for the second night.
The island and the silence, and the last ferry back at six.
The Sambor road
Riverside guesthouses north
Guesthouses along the river road north toward the dolphin pool at Kampi, among the villages and the pagodas. For an early start at the dolphins and for a night among the villages.
The dolphins fifteen minutes away, and a ride for dinner.
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Where to stay in Kratie
Stay on Koh Trong, the sandbar across the river: homestays among the mango trees and the paddy, no cars, and the town five minutes back by ferry. Most people give Kratie 2 nights on Stippl, which is what the road journey needs to justify itself. Book nothing on the island for a same-day arrival after six in the evening; the ferry stops and a charter costs about €14.
The riverfront
€8–25
Fairly basic guesthouses and small hotels facing the Mekong, €10 to €35, with a little more for the view.
Behind the market
€7–20
Plain guesthouses a block back from the water, €7 to €20, where the town shops.
Koh Trong
Family homestays with meals, €10 to €25, and one upmarket villa resort from €80.
The Sambor road
Village guesthouses along the river road toward the dolphins, €10 to €30, for the dawn boat.
What to eat in Kratie
The provincial speciality: sticky rice and red bean steamed inside a bamboo stem, sealed with bamboo shavings and peeled like a banana
Fresh river fish, fruit and vegetables, at its fullest early in the morning. One source found betel leaf for sale here and nowhere else in Cambodia
A handful of them along the water, described as decent rather than notable, grown up to meet a slowly growing visitor trade
The obvious local protein, grilled or in soup
Hosts on the island cook Khmer food and one will teach you
Kralan and fruit sold along the highway in and out of town
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Kratie customs and what not to do
The pagodas are in daily use
Not on a ticket: cover shoulders, take shoes off and leave a donation; the 100 Pillar Pagoda is busy with locals, so be unobtrusive and stay out of a service.
Koh Trong is a farming island
The villages you cycle through are lived in and unusually well kept; ride slowly, greet people, and buy the pomelo from the house that grows it.
The dolphins are endangered
Critically, and the boats get close enough as it is; the skippers manage the distance, and do not ask to get nearer or to have the engine kept running.
The floating village is a home
The Vietnamese community on the river has a long and politically difficult history in Cambodia; it is somebody's home, not a photo stop, so no close-range photographs.
Do
- Arrive in time for an early-afternoon dolphin boat if you only have one night
- Take the ferry back from Koh Trong before six
- Cover shoulders and knees at both pagodas
- Buy kralan by the stick from a roadside seller
Don't
- Travel these roads after dark
- Expect a guaranteed dolphin sighting
- Photograph the floating village at close range
- Plan Koh Trong for a wet-season afternoon; it is a sandbar and it shrinks
What a Kratie trip costs
Budget
€12–20
A riverfront guesthouse room, market food, the ferry and a bicycle.
Mid-range
€35–70
A stylish hotel in town or a homestay on Koh Trong, a private driver.
High-end
€70+
The villa resort on Koh Trong or the restored colonial property down the road.
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Fun facts about Kratie
The Mekong dolphin pod off Kampi is the largest left anywhere in the river. It is one of very few places on earth where Irrawaddy dolphins can be seen in fresh water, from a long-boat 15 km north of town.
The dolphins were hunted for oil under the Khmer Rouge. The count has risen since 2015 rather than fallen, and gillnets and pollution are now the threats instead of hunters.
Koh Trong is a sandbar, not bedrock. The island opposite the town grows and shrinks with the Mekong, which is why the cycling season and the dry season are the same season.
The 100 Pillar Pagoda has 116 columns. It stands on the site of an eighth-century royal palace rather than an old monastery, and the name has never been corrected.
March in Kratie averages 35.6 degrees, the hottest month at any Cambodian station. It is hotter than Battambang and far hotter than Mondulkiri two hours east, which is where the plateau's cool nights come in.
More Cambodia trips on Stippl start in Kratie than in any town except the capitals. The Laos border explains it: travellers coming south from Si Phan Don make Kratie their first Cambodian night.
Local tips for Kratie
Getting here is the objection
A minimum of four hours from Phnom Penh by car and five to seven by bus, about €8. It is on the road to Laos, which is the reason most people come through.
No through transport to Laos
Going north you bus to the border, cross on foot with the luggage and pick up transport on the other side. Arrange a driver from Kratie for the gap, or expect a wait.
Ride-hailing does not work here
Tuk-tuks are arranged through the accommodation or flagged down, about €9 return for the dolphins at Kampi. Bicycles for Koh Trong are about €2.
How long to stay
Most people give Kratie 2 nights on Stippl, and a third stay one: the dolphins in the afternoon and the sunset. Two adds Koh Trong and the pagoda at Sambor.
The Mekong is a big, fast river
The dolphin boats are small and open and the Koh Trong ferry is a short crossing with real current. Life jackets on, and no swimming off the beach at Koh Trong in the wet.
A quiet river town
Kratie has no security reputation and no source raises one. The ordinary provincial care applies, and the market at dawn is safe and worth the alarm.
Kratie questions, answered
On the eastern loop, or on the way to Laos. Kratie is a long road day from Phnom Penh in either direction, so it only makes sense if you are carrying on north or east rather than doubling back. Lay the eastern leg into Stippl before you commit, because the road time is the real price here.
Two nights. 2 nights is the normal stay in the Kratie stops planned on Stippl, and it is the honest minimum for a town five to six hours from anywhere else. One afternoon for the dolphins, one morning for Koh Trong, and the road at either end.
That is where 34.6% of Kratie stops planned on Stippl land, and it wastes the journey. The dolphins are an afternoon on the water and Koh Trong is a morning on a bicycle, so a single night means picking one of them after five hours on a bus.
Barely. 22.6% of the trips that include Kratie come together inside a fortnight on Stippl, the highest last-minute share in Cambodia, which is what happens to a town people add when they decide to head overland towards Laos. The guesthouses here are rarely full.
Likely, though never guaranteed. The Irrawaddy pods surface briefly and the boatmen know where they are working, so an hour on the water usually produces several sightings. Late afternoon is the better window. It is a small remaining population, so boats keep their distance and cut the engines.
It is the best thing here. A five-minute ferry across the Mekong puts you on a flat river island with a track around the rim, ten to fourteen kilometres of it, past pomelo orchards and stilt houses. Hire a bicycle on the far side and go in the late afternoon.
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 Kratie 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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