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.
À qui Battambang s'adresse
On the Siem Reap runs
it is directly on both, and 97.2% of Battambang trips also carry Siem Reap, the highest pairing in Cambodia
Enough of Angkor's crowds
every source recommends it explicitly as the antidote: the same country, a fraction of the visitors
Arts travellers
Phare Ponleu Selpak is a working arts school with a world-class circus, and the town also carries a street-art scene and small artspaces
Cyclists
flat, quiet, and the countryside starts within minutes of the market; multiple sources describe exploring it by bicycle as the way to see it
Budget travellers
the cheapest of Cambodia's named stops: rooms from around USD 11, and the two headline attractions cost USD 0 and USD 16
History travellers
the Killing Cave at Phnom Sampeau is one of the more direct Khmer Rouge sites outside Phnom Penh, and it is presented by people with first-hand accounts
Maybe not for you: anyone whose Cambodia time is under a week (our own data says most people give it one or two nights and then leave), anyone looking for nightlife or a food scene to rival Kampot's, anyone who needs to fly, the airport has been closed for renovation, and anyone travelling in March–May, when it is the hottest place in this sources set
Quand partir pour Battambang
Dry and cool
Nov–Feb
12 to 164 mm a month, and December is the driest of the year at 12 mm. This is the season the town is recommended in.
Hot
Mar–May
peaking at 35.5 °C mean daily max in April. Battambang runs hotter than Siem Reap in every one of these months and is the hottest place set.
Wet
Jun–Oct
246 to 431 mm a month, wettest in October rather than September. The countryside is at its greenest and the riverboat to Siem Reap becomes possible.
- Every evening, 17:30–18:00 the bat exodus from Phnom Sampeau, a natural event, not a scheduled one, but reliable enough to plan a day around.
- The riverboat from Siem Reap only runs on a high river, roughly July to November, and is described by more than one source as the most scenic way to arrive, which puts the best journey and the best weather in different months
- Our demand is more seasonal than the country's, at 52.1% in November–February against Cambodia's 50.2%, and 15.5% across May–August against 17.9%
Add your Battambang dates and we'll flag the weather
Stippl shows the season, crowds and prices for every stop on your route.
Décrivez votre voyage et obtenez un itinéraire pour Battambang en quelques secondes
Tout ce guide est déjà dans Stippl. Dites au planificateur combien de temps vous avez et ce que vous aimez : il construit l'itinéraire, les journées et les temps de trajet, et vous modifiez ce que vous voulez.
Ce qu'il ne faut pas manquer à Battambang
Photo by James Dickson via Unsplash
Photo by Siborey Sean via Unsplash
Photo by Kim Sokha via UnsplashThe bat exodus at Phnom Sampeau
a continuous stream of over a million wrinkle-lipped bats leaving one cave mouth from about 17:30, lasting 30–45 minutes. Free, natural, and named by every single source
The Phare Ponleu Selpak circus
contortion, acrobatics, clowning and traditional dance to live music, staged by the arts school that trains at-risk and orphaned young people. Monday, Thursday and Saturday, about USD 16
The bamboo train
a flat bamboo platform on two axles, motor-driven along a single track. Iconic, and see the two-versions conflict in Transport before you book
The Killing Cave at Phnom Sampeau
a Khmer Rouge execution site reached from the top of the same hill as the bat cave, presented by monks and guides with first-hand accounts
Wat Sampeau and the cliffside carvings
the footpath up the mountain passes Buddhist carvings and shrines to a hilltop pagoda with resident macaques
Cycling the rice country and Wat Kor
flat lanes, a hanging bridge, heritage wooden houses and villages within minutes of the market
Les quartiers de Battambang
West River
First stay
The town centre on the west bank around Phsar Nath, the central market. The colonial architecture, the street art, the riverside promenade, the museum, the street food and the travel agents. Walkable and well lit.
Everything is here and you can do it on foot.
East River
Quiet
Across the bridges: quieter, more suburban, with a park, an artspace café and the town's most peaceful pagoda. Ten minutes' walk from the market.
The action without the noise.
Wat Kor Village
Countryside
A few minutes south of the centre and immediately rural: thatched houses, carts, cattle on the lanes, a hanging bridge and two heritage houses open to visitors.
The Cambodian countryside without leaving town.
Phnom Sampeau & the bat cave
off-the-beaten-path
Hills and jungle about 30 minutes south-west, around the bat cave and the killing cave. Homestays rather than hotels, and essentially no other infrastructure.
Wake up in the countryside; be at the cave mouth before the crowd.
Along the Sangker, north
Stopping still
Scattered guesthouses and a few resorts on the river north of town, among rice fields.
Quiet water and countryside, ten minutes out.
See every Battambang neighbourhood on one map
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Où loger à Battambang
Stay on the west bank near the market for a first visit. It is the walkable centre and the only area where everything a visitor needs: food, ATMs, pharmacies, agents, the promenade, is inside a few streets
West River
€12–40
The town centre on the west bank around Phsar Nath, the central market. The colonial architecture, the street art, the riverside promenade, the museum, the street food and the travel agents. Walkable and well lit.
East River
€25–45
Across the bridges: quieter, more suburban, with a park, an artspace café and the town's most peaceful pagoda. Ten minutes' walk from the market.
Wat Kor Village
€12–110
A few minutes south of the centre and immediately rural: thatched houses, carts, cattle on the lanes, a hanging bridge and two heritage houses open to visitors.
Phnom Sampeau & the bat cave
€10–20
Hills and jungle about 30 minutes south-west, around the bat cave and the killing cave. Homestays rather than hotels, and essentially no other infrastructure.
Along the Sangker, north
€15–70
Scattered guesthouses and a few resorts on the river north of town, among rice fields.
Que manger à 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 etiquette is national
temple dress, the sampeah greeting, monk protocol, care with feet and heads, and respectful behaviour at Khmer Rouge sites
The Killing Cave is a memorial
not a sight. Guides and monks there give personal accounts; more than one source warns it is harrowing and advises against it for anyone squeamish
Not used to being looked at
Battambang, that is. Sources describe a town where visitors are a minority in every street outside the few tourist blocks, which is the appeal and also the reason to behave like a guest
Phare is a school first
before it is a show. It was founded in 1994 by young Cambodians returning from a refugee camp on the Thai border, and the ticket funds the arts education
The pagoda macaques steal
at the hilltop, and not as a metaphor. Not a metaphor, a first-hand account warns about bags and cameras
À faire
- Book your nights around the circus schedule if you want to see it.
- Get to the bat cave by about 17:00 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.
À éviter
- Don't treat the Killing Cave as a photo stop.
- Don't cycle the countryside at midday in April.
- Don't count on the riverboat to Siem Reap outside roughly July–November.
- Don't plan a Battambang flight, the airport is closed.
Budget quotidien à Battambang
Shoestring
€12–20
Guesthouse or homestay, market food, a bicycle, the bat cave (free)
Budget
€20–35
Central hotel room, the tuk-tuk sights loop, a circus ticket, eating out
Mid-range
€35–65
Boutique or colonial hotel, a private guide for the day, the good restaurants
Comfortable
€65+
The heritage hotels in Wat Kor, private car and driver
Track what you actually spend
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Anecdotes sur Battambang
Phare Ponleu Selpak was founded in 1994 by young Cambodians who had learned to draw in a refugee camp on the Thai border, and its Siem Reap offshoot became the country's best-known cultural export
Over a million bats leave one cave mouth at Phnom Sampeau every evening, in a stream that runs for 30–45 minutes without a break, and nobody charges for it
The province is Cambodia's rice bowl: the country's principal rice-growing region, with a rice-milling industry to match
December is drier than January here: 12 mm against 14, which is not true at any other station in this sources set
Both the town's fixtures were built out of the Khmer Rouge period. The circus school by returning refugees, and the killing cave on the same hill as the bat cave
Conseils locaux pour Battambang
The half-day tuk-tuk loop
A half-day tuk-tuk loop is how almost everyone sees the sights, and it bundles the bamboo train, Wat Banan or Phnom Sampeau, the killing cave and the bat exodus in the right order to end at dusk
A bicycle in town
The town itself is flat, compact and best on a bicycle, which every source recommends over a tuk-tuk for the countryside
No safety reputation at all
good or bad, and no source raises a concern about the town itself. It reads as an ordinary Cambodian provincial city
The road is the risk
The road is the risk here as everywhere in Cambodia, and the country file's road-safety claims apply in full
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.
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