What To Do In Kampot

While there are lots of things to do in Kampot it’s also just a great place to chill out and relax for a couple of days. The hostel options there are fantastic, more on that below, and can provide you with plenty to do from the comfort of your own home if you’re just wanting a little bit of a time out.
 

Kampot Town

Being in Kampot feels bizarrely like being on the French Riviera. I say bizarrely but I guess it’s not really so bizarre given Cambodia was under french rule for so many years.  Kampot was the most important sea port at the time and Kampot pepper is its famous export.

The town is therefore filled with old French colonial buildings and the quaint little town that looks out over a river so you walk along down the main strip of the town, past the bars and restaurants ,whilst seeing the calm peaceful lake. It’s really beautiful.
 

Day Trips from Kampot

There are numerous day trips you can book from Kampot once there; to see caves, pepper farms and go on river cruises.

A typical day tour will take you to the pepper plantations, caves, salt fields (the other famous export of Kampot) and possibly to Kep beach.

Other tours include river cruises, mountain biking adventures and even paintballing.

I didn’t go on any of these though as I’d just met up with two friends from home who happened to be in Cambodia too from England and we all decided we’d prefer to spend the time chilling at our hostel and exploring the town.
 

Where to Stay in Kampot

Again we stayed at The Mad Monkey Hostel here and it has all the same great stuff as the one in Phnom Penh expect it also has a pool! It’s such a nice place to just chill out and relax in the sun. There’s a great happy hour too and even a roof top bar as well as one by the pool.

I have also heard from friends that Arcadia Backpackers Hostel is fun to stay in too and they have their own bit of river front you can throw yourself in to it when the mood strikes. They even have inflatable trampolines in the river so you can bounce your self off them and into the river too. As well as rope swings.
 

How Long to Stay in Kampot

Give yourself at least a couple of days in Kampot. If you want to do any of the day trips at least 3 days would be a good idea.

As it is a great place to chill out (good if you like the odd smoke too I heard) a lot of people do end up getting stuck there for as much as a month or so.

Getting from Kampot to Sihanoukville

Lots of people embark on this same route so it’s really easy to get a bus from Kampot to Sihanoukville and it only takes 2 hours. Just book it at your hostel and they’ll pick you up from there and drop you in the center of Sihanoukville.

Sihanoukville is where you should head to if you’d like to go to Koh Rong.

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