What comes into your mind when you think of Cambodia? Is it the World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat or maybe the mass genocide that happened in the 70’s by the Khmer Rouge? Well, it has so much more than that. In this post I'd like to tell you about Sihanoukville - a seaside town featuring Cambodia's best-known beaches.
We spent a month in Sihanoukville when it was the end of the raining season - in October. The rain was dripping for a whole week when we arrived, sometimes turning into a heavier rain and then back. But after that the weather started to get better and showed us some great sandy beaches.
The beaches here are not as crowded as many of those in Thailand, but can be cramped on weekends and holidays. Like many beaches in Southeast Asia, they can also be covered in rubbish.
The main beaches are lined with thatch roofed seafood shacks and bars offering cold drinks, umbrellas and chairs, BBQ and more.
Downtown Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Photo by sihanoukville-cambodia.com
Sihanoukville is not that pretty itself, I didn't even make any photos of it, what a shame! I found this photo on the web and it looks almost as I remember it, except that I remember it with lots of rain and cloudy sky
It's third largest city in Cambodia, its population is around 70.000 people. It's not a small place, and the best way to get around is to rent a motorbike. We really like to just drive around and see what landscapes (this time it was more like seascapes?) we can find.
But when we want to actually swim together and relax on the beach we don't take cameras with us, just take a little bit of money enough to buy gasoline. I heard that while violent crime is rare, purse snatching, pick-pocketing, and petty theft are quite common, so be safe and hold on to your bags!
Have you seen those pictures of freelancers with laptop working at the beach? I think all the freelancers like to show off this way, while it's too hot to work like that of course... But we actually had to do that in Sihanoukville when wifi went down in our guesthouse, because there was free wifi on a beach if you order some drink.
One of my favourite things was to go have cambodian coffee with papaya pancake in the morning. This chocolate smelling coffee is served in the single dripper that goes over the cup, so nice!
The town offers a surprising number and variety of restaurants and bars. And here's the prices that I like 😁
Sihanoukville was the local's go-to place for beach holidays. But then the town was partially destroyed during the civil war and fell into ruins. People stopped visiting it for a long time, but tourism started to grow again in the early 2000s.
The best time to visit is between November and March - this is the dry season in Cambodia, with minimal rain so your beach activities (or passivities? 😁) won't be affected.
Three sides of the town are bordered by tropical beaches. I heard that it's even better to visit some small islands near Sihanoukville, but we didn't have a chance to go there that time.
Sihanoukville is located about 250km away from Phnom Penh, and the distance from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville (the town where everyone stays to vist Angkor) is around 532km (350 miles) by road. It's a nice place to be if you just want to chill and relax by the beach.
Overall, I woudn't want to live here for a long time, this town is too small and underdeveloped for my taste, but it's nice to visit if you travel around Cambodia 😊
All photos taken with Canon 550d 😊
Stay tuned for more!
