Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh was emptied in 1975, two million people marched out within days, and the city that came back is the only real metropolis Cambodia has. S-21 is the fullest account of what happened.
Phnom Penh in a nutshell
Phnom Penh: what to expect
We looked at how travellers actually plan Phnom Penh on Stippl, across 164,000+ planned stops in Cambodia.
Phnom Penh is Cambodia's only real metropolis, and the two things people come for sit an hour apart. Tuol Sleng is the school the Khmer Rouge turned into an interrogation prison, left much as it was found, and Choeung Ek is where most of its prisoners were taken. The Royal Palace is still the King's residence, its throne-hall tower modelled on the Bayon and the Silver Pagoda floor laid with thousands of silver tiles. Psar Thmei's art-deco dome went up in 1937 and is one of the handsomest market buildings in Asia.
A Cambodia trip almost always starts in Phnom Penh, and it rarely finishes there. More than half the itineraries that carry the capital open on it and four in ten close on it, an asymmetry nothing else in the country has. And there is no third obligatory day: 37.8% of stays here run exactly two nights and nine in ten are three or fewer.
Sleep on Sisowath Quay for a first visit and in BKK1 for a longer one, and 2 nights is the shape of it. The sights are too far apart to walk, so a tuk-tuk or the local ride app is the answer, and keep your bag out of reach of passing motorbikes. What the capital really opens up is the east and the south rather than the temples: Kep, Kratie, Kampot and Mondulkiri are the places you can only practically reach from here. Skip it if you came to relax.
Who Phnom Penh is for
History travellers
Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek together are the most complete account of the Khmer Rouge period anywhere, and both are set up to be understood rather than merely witnessed
Budget travellers
the cheapest of Cambodia's main stops: hostels from about USD 8, local meals from USD 2, a tuk-tuk across town under USD 4
Food travellers
the country's widest range by a distance, from riverside Khmer kitchens to BKK1's international scene and the Russian Market's stalls
Nomads and long stays
BKK1 exists for exactly this: co-working, cafés, apartments and a large resident foreign community. Our own data gives digital nomads as one of two traveller types
A city, not a sight
one source, having visited both, argues Phnom Penh simply has more to do than Siem Reap, which is centred on one thing
On to Vietnam or the south
it is the hinge: the Mekong crossing to Ho Chi Minh City, the road and rail south to Kampot and the coast, and the country's main international airport
Maybe not for you: anyone travelling to relax, the memorial sites are genuinely harrowing and the traffic is heavy; anyone unwilling to keep a bag out of reach of a passing motorbike; and anyone hoping to walk between the sights, which the distances do not allow
When to go to Phnom Penh
Cool dry
Nov–Feb
under 95 mm a month and maxima around 30–32 °C. The only period when a day of walking and tuk-tuks is comfortable, and the season everything is priced for.
Hot dry
Mar–May
34–35 °C, and the two memorial sites are largely outdoors. Start early.
Wet
Jun–Oct
117–253 mm a month, mostly in the afternoon. September is the one to avoid: the Mekong is at its highest and the city's drainage does not cope.
- severe street flooding after a storm is normal rather than exceptional
- 50.4% of Phnom Penh trips start November–February, 17.1% May–August
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What not to miss in Phnom Penh
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21)
a school the Khmer Rouge turned into an interrogation prison, left much as it was found. Around 20,000 people passed through and a handful survived. Take the audio guide or a guide; two to three hours, and it is not a thing you do quickly
Choeung Ek, the Killing Fields
15 km south, where most of S-21's prisoners were taken. Mass graves, a memorial stupa holding thousands of skulls, and an audio guide that is the reason the site works. Around 90 minutes
The Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda
still the King's residence; the throne hall's 59 m tower is modelled on the Bayon, and the pagoda floor is laid with several thousand silver tiles. Closed between 11:00 and 14:00
Psar Thmei, the Central Market
a 1937 art-deco dome, four arms of stalls, and one of the most beautiful market buildings in Asia in its own right
The Russian Market (Psar Toul Tom Poung)
crammed, hot and the best market in the city for actually buying things, with the neighbourhood's cafés and vinyl bars behind it
Sunset on Sisowath Quay
the riverside promenade in the hour before dark, when the park fills with families and exercise classes and the light goes across the confluence
The neighbourhoods of Phnom Penh
Riverside (Sisowath Quay)
first-timers
Three kilometres of waterfront promenade along the Tonlé Sap beside the Royal Palace and the National Museum, lined with restaurants, bars and hotels. Fills in the early evening with families, exercise groups and food carts.
The Royal Palace, the National Museum and the sunset over the confluence, all on foot.
Daun Penh (Old French Quarter)
Historic core
The colonial administrative district looping around Wat Phnom and the Central Market: French-era boulevards, government buildings and the 1937 art-deco dome of Psar Thmei.
Read the city's layers in one morning's walk.
BKK1 (Boeung Keng Kang 1)
Expat calm
The expat and NGO quarter: embassies, speciality coffee, wine shops, co-working and rooftop pools on quiet tree-lined streets. Polished, low-rise, not touristy.
Long stays, reliable wifi and the best restaurant density in the city.
Toul Tom Poung (Russian Market)
budget
Built around the famously crammed Psar Toul Tom Poung, with vintage shops, vinyl bars, vegan kitchens and tattoo studios in the narrow streets behind it.
Spend a slow day eating and browsing without ever needing a tuk-tuk.
Tonlé Bassac
luxury
The new-money quarter between the Independence Monument and the Bassac: glass towers, rooftop bars, fine dining and a mall, with older shophouses behind.
Cocktails above the city, and the shortest walk back to the riverside.
Toul Kouk
budget
An outer district that was a plain suburb a decade ago and is now full of cafés, boutiques and restaurants. Almost no tourists.
Eat where people who live here eat.
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Where to stay in Phnom Penh
Riverside for two nights, BKK1 for two weeks. Every source splits it this way: the waterfront puts you next to the palace and the museum, BKK1 puts you next to good coffee and a co-working desk
Riverside (Sisowath Quay)
€12–60
Three kilometres of waterfront promenade along the Tonlé Sap beside the Royal Palace and the National Museum, lined with restaurants, bars and hotels. Fills in the early evening with families, exercise groups and food carts.
Daun Penh (Old French Quarter)
€10–45
The colonial administrative district looping around Wat Phnom and the Central Market: French-era boulevards, government buildings and the 1937 art-deco dome of Psar Thmei.
BKK1 (Boeung Keng Kang 1)
€25–90
The expat and NGO quarter: embassies, speciality coffee, wine shops, co-working and rooftop pools on quiet tree-lined streets. Polished, low-rise, not touristy.
Toul Tom Poung (Russian Market)
€8–35
Built around the famously crammed Psar Toul Tom Poung, with vintage shops, vinyl bars, vegan kitchens and tattoo studios in the narrow streets behind it.
Tonlé Bassac
€30–120
The new-money quarter between the Independence Monument and the Bassac: glass towers, rooftop bars, fine dining and a mall, with older shophouses behind.
Toul Kouk
€10–40
An outer district that was a plain suburb a decade ago and is now full of cafés, boutiques and restaurants. Almost no tourists.
What to eat in Phnom Penh
Freshwater fish steamed with coconut milk, kroeung and egg into a set custard, in a banana-leaf cup.
Pork-bone rice-noodle soup with the garnishes on the side. Breakfast, and the city's real morning meal.
The Cambodian banh mi: pâté, pickles and herbs in a French baguette. BKK1's carts are famous for it.
Seared marinated beef over lettuce and tomato with a lime-and-black-pepper dip.
Grilled pork over broken rice with pickles and a bowl of broth.
Fermented rice noodles under a green fish gravy, with a plate of raw herbs.
Fried sweet-potato-and-coconut doughnuts sold by the bag on the street.
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Phnom Penh customs and what not to do
The Khmer Rouge is memory
living memory, not history. A quarter of the population died between 1975 and 1979; the average age on the street today is around 25 as a direct consequence. Treat the memorial sites as memorials
The Palace turns people away
covered shoulders, covered knees, no vests. The rule is enforced at the gate and cover-ups are sold outside
Shoulders and knees at a wat
of which the city has many
Bargain at the markets only
Bargain at the markets only
The King is genuinely revered
Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy. Disrespect toward the monarchy is not received as a joke
Do
- Take the audio guide at both memorial sites. At Choeung Ek it is included in the ticket and it is the whole experience
- Split Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek across two days if you can. One source deliberately did, to avoid going numb; another prefers to do both at once and get it over. Either is defensible; doing them without deciding is not
- Agree the tuk-tuk fare before you get in, or use PassApp and let the app do it
Don't
- Don't walk the riverside after dark alone. our sources report local advice to avoid the riverwalk at night, and one Dutch writer was robbed of her bag at the night market
- Don't pay to release the caged birds at Wat Phnom. They are trained to return to the cage
- Don't photograph military installations or the airport
Daily budget in Phnom Penh
Budget
€16–24 (USD 18–28)
A hostel dorm, local meals, tuk-tuks, the two memorial sites and a beer.
Mid-range
€30–47 (USD 35–55)
A private air-conditioned room with a pool, restaurant meals, a driver for the day.
High-end
€69+ (USD 80+)
A boutique hotel behind the Royal Palace, BKK1 restaurants, rooftop bars in Tonlé Bassac.
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Fun facts about Phnom Penh
The city was emptied in 1975. Around two million people were forced out within days of the Khmer Rouge taking it, one of the largest forced urban evacuations ever carried out
Of roughly 20,000 people imprisoned at S-21, a handful survived. The commonly cited figure is eight
"Phnom Penh" means "Penh's Hill", after a 14th-century woman said to have found Buddha statues in a floating tree and raised a hill to house them. Wat Phnom stands on it
The city sits on the Chaktomuk, the "four faces": where the Mekong, the Bassac and the Tonlé Sap meet, and where the Tonlé Sap reverses direction each monsoon
Wat Ounalom is the headquarters of Cambodian Buddhism, 44 structures, and is nicknamed the Eyebrow Temple after a relic said to be an eyebrow hair of the Buddha
Wat Phnom is 27 m high and the tallest religious structure in the city
Local tips for Phnom Penh
Don't plan to walk
Do not plan to walk between the sights. Tuol Sleng, the Royal Palace, the Central Market and Choeung Ek are spread across the city and one of them is 15 km out; Phnom Penh is a tuk-tuk city in a way Siem Reap is not
One driver, all day
Hiring one driver for the day is the standard and it is cheap: around USD 15 for a full day, including waiting at each site
The best-connected point
in Cambodia, by some way. International flights, the Vietnam land crossing, the southern railway and the fastest road to the coast all start here
No real overnight transport
not in Cambodia. The longest domestic journeys run 6–8 hours, so sleeper buses are not the institution they are next door
Snatching from motorbikes
Bag and phone snatching from passing motorbikes is the defining risk, and it is common enough that two of our sources were victims or witnesses. One Dutch writer had her bag taken at the night market. It also happens to people riding in tuk-tuks, which is the detail that catches visitors out
Level 2, street crime
The US State Department has Cambodia at Level 2, "exercise increased caution", raised in April 2026, and names phone and bag snatching explicitly; Canada advises a high degree of caution. Both are about street crime rather than violence
Phnom Penh questions, answered
Decide before you arrive whether you are doing both in one day or splitting them, because you will not be fit to decide at two in the afternoon. Together it is about five hours and it is heavy. Build it into Stippl as one full day with nothing planned after it, and take the audio guides at both.
Two. Travellers planning Phnom Penh on Stippl give it 2 nights, which is also what the guidebooks land on. One day for the Royal Palace, the market and the riverside; one for Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng, and nothing else on it.
It is what 27.2% of Phnom Penh stops planned on Stippl come to, and it is not enough. The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng between them are most of a day, and doing them on a travel day is the version people regret. Give the city two nights and the second day to the museums.
Rarely, which surprises anyone expecting an airport city. Only 2.27% of Phnom Penh stops planned on Stippl are same-day, so almost everyone passing through sleeps here. The city repays it: the riverside in the hour before dark is the best of Cambodia's urban evenings.
Yes, with one caveat everybody repeats: bag and phone snatching from moving motorbikes, including out of an open tuk-tuk. Keep the phone in a pocket rather than a hand at the roadside, wear a bag across the body and on the inside, and do not walk the riverside alone late at night.
Because it closes for a few hours in the middle of every day and reopens in the afternoon. Go first thing or after the break, and dress for it: covered shoulders and knees are enforced at the gate, and the sarong sellers outside do brisk trade off people who did not know.
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.
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