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Seven Places to Visit in Cambodia Beyond Angkor

Seven places worth the detour in Cambodia, away from the temples — an island, a bamboo bridge, a crater lake, a pine forest, the Cardamoms and the Battambang bats.

Angkor is the reason most people come, and it earns it. But the country stretches a long way past Siem Reap, and some of what it holds is genuinely unexpected: a crater lake in the northeast, an island of white sand in the south, and a bamboo bridge that gets rebuilt by hand every year. Here are seven, and where each one is.

Riverside houses and wooden boats along the Mekong, seen from directly above
Riverside houses and wooden boats along the Mekong, seen from directly above

1. Koh Rong Sanloem, in the south

Koh Rong Sanloem is the quieter of the two big islands off Sihanoukville — pale sand, clear water, and jungle running down to the shoreline in most bays. Boats leave from Sihanoukville and take under an hour. Different bays have quite different characters, so it is worth deciding which one you are heading for before you buy the ticket.

Turquoise bay and jungle-covered headland at Koh Rong Sanloem
Turquoise bay and jungle-covered headland at Koh Rong Sanloem

2. The bamboo bridge at Kampong Cham

Every dry season, the people of Kampong Cham build a bridge of bamboo across the Mekong to Koh Pen island, and every wet season the river takes it away. Seen from above it is a thin pale line running straight across the brown water. It is rebuilt by hand, which is the part worth understanding before you walk it.

Aerial view of the bamboo bridge crossing the Mekong to Koh Pen island
Aerial view of the bamboo bridge crossing the Mekong to Koh Pen island

3. Yeak Laom, the crater lake in Ratanakiri

Yeak Laom sits in a volcanic crater outside Banlung, almost perfectly round and ringed by dense forest. The water is deep green and calm, with wooden platforms at the edge for swimming. It is one of the easiest things to reach in Ratanakiri and a good first stop in the province.

The round emerald crater lake of Yeak Laom surrounded by dense forest
The round emerald crater lake of Yeak Laom surrounded by dense forest

4. The pine forest at Kirirom

Cambodia is not a country you associate with pine trees, which is exactly why Kirirom surprises people. The park in Kampong Speu sits high enough for cooler air, with tall pines and dirt paths through the grass. It is close to Phnom Penh — the easiest of these seven to fit into a short trip. It also appears in our guide to Cambodia's twelve national parks.

Tall pine trees and a path through grass at Kirirom, Kampong Speu
Tall pine trees and a path through grass at Kirirom, Kampong Speu

5. The road through the Cardamom Mountains

The Cardamom Mountains run across the southwest, and the road through them is one of the better rides in the country: long curves, forest on both sides, ridgelines showing in the distance. Riders usually build it into a loop between Koh Kong and the coast. Fuel and repairs are sparse once you are inside, so plan the stops.

A motorbike view of an empty road curving through the Cardamom Mountains
A motorbike view of an empty road curving through the Cardamom Mountains

6. The bats of Phnom Sampeau, Battambang

At dusk, a cave in the hillside at Phnom Sampeau outside Battambang releases a stream of bats that goes on, without a break, for a long time. People gather at the roadside below to watch it. It happens daily around sunset, and the timing shifts with the season.

A dense stream of bats crossing the evening sky above Phnom Sampeau
A dense stream of bats crossing the evening sky above Phnom Sampeau

7. Le Relais de Chhloung, on the Mekong in Kratie

In the small town of Chhloung, in Kratie province, a restored colonial villa looks out over the Mekong — ochre walls, arcades, a balustraded terrace and a garden of palms in front of it. It is an unexpected thing to find on that stretch of the river, and worth a stop if you are travelling between Kampong Cham and Kratie.

A restored ochre colonial villa with arcades and palms, overlooking the Mekong at Chhloung
A restored ochre colonial villa with arcades and palms, overlooking the Mekong at Chhloung

Getting to them

None of these are far from a road, but they are spread across the country: Koh Rong Sanloem and the Cardamoms in the south and southwest, Kampong Cham and Kratie along the Mekong, Yeak Laom in the far northeast, Battambang in the west. Two or three of them fit comfortably into one trip; all seven is a long itinerary.

The bamboo bridge only exists in the dry season, roughly November to May, and the boats to the islands are more reliable in the same window. Everything else runs year-round, with conditions changing more than the opening times do.

Explore more places on The Map Cambodia.

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