Phnom Penh Travel Guide — Cambodia's Capital, Rivers and Markets

See & Do

Two histories sit side by side: the colonial city and the Khmer Rouge years.

The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda

The King still lives on the grounds, but most of the complex is open: the tiled throne hall, and the Silver Pagoda with its Temple of the Emerald Buddha, built in the 19th century with French tech and Cambodian design. Dress covered and go in the morning.

Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek

The heavier half of the story: the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum occupies the former prison S-21, a school turned prison, and the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek a short ride out hold the memorial stacks. With the M-13 prison west of the city, all three sites joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2025. Nobody finds it light.

Markets and the riverfront

Sisowath Quay runs five kilometres along the Tonle Sap, restaurants and bars facing the water. Inland, the Central Market's Art Deco dome is the best building in town, and the Russian Market (Psar Toul Tom Poung, a 1980s Vietnamese occupation name) sells factory seconds of Western brands made locally.

Wat Phnom and day trips

The hill temple the city is named for is a green mound of monkeys and working shrines; in the 1930s it housed a novice called Saloth Sar, later Pol Pot. Members on nomads.com put Kampot four hours by bus; the Siem Reap guide covers the temples the other way.

Eat

Khmer cooking costs less than its Thai or Vietnamese neighbours, and the French legacy still shows as baguettes and pate.

What to order

Fish amok, the coconut curry steamed in a banana leaf, is the dish people mean by Khmer food. Wikivoyage's city price bands read budget under $4, mid-range $4 to $12, splurge over $12.

What it costs

Numbeo (updated 7 September 2026): an inexpensive meal $4.00, dinner for two $39.80, a cappuccino $2.95, a domestic draft beer $1.00. Markets undercut those; the riverside strip holds the mid-range restaurants.

Where to Stay

The map splits by budget: riverside and BKK for convenience, Toul Tom Poung for price.

BKK1 and BKK3

The neighbourhoods nomads.com members name for visitors: dense with cafes and restaurants, quiet at night, walkable, and where the mid-range serviced apartments sit.

The riverside and Tuol Tom Poung

Sisowath Quay suits short stays that want the river and night market; the Russian Market end is the cheap end. Member warning: listings at $20 to $25 a night often came with slow wifi, no hot water or unreliable water, so paying above the bare minimum changes the stay.

What a room costs

nomads.com (checked 5 October 2026): a median private hotel room is $13 a night, about $268 a month, and the Airbnb median $58 a night. Numbeo's September 2026 basket: one-bedroom centre $646 a month, outside $370.

Logistics

Techo International Airport (KTI) opened 19 kilometres south of the city on 9 September 2025 and took over every commercial flight; the old Phnom Penh International ran its last flight the day before, and the government has pledged to keep that site as a landmark. Budget for the longer transfer into town.

Grab is the taxi app. Money behaves differently: nomads.com rates the city cash-first for foreigners, ATMs dispense riel (1,000,000 riel is about $247) and dollars circulate beside it. Before you land, file the free Cambodia e-Arrival Card at arrival.gov.kh within seven days of arrival, for the QR code immigration asks for.

Two honest member ratings: traffic safety Bad and English Bad, so a translation app earns its keep. Tap water is not drinkable. The city quiets around 9pm, which members call a feature.