Rare Things to Do in Cambodia

Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake sits at Cambodia’s heart. Here, its floating villages rise and fall with the seasons, echoing the natural rhythms of the flooded forests we navigate in the Amazon. A boat trip across Tonle Sap reveals a Cambodia built entirely around water. Further west, Battambang’s bamboo railway carries you through rice paddies and sugar palms on nothing more than a flat wooden platform and a small engine, a delightfully low-tech contrast to the grandeur of the temples further north.

Kep and Kampot: The quiet coast

Most itineraries overlook Cambodia’s southern coast, which is precisely why it deserves a place on yours. Kep pulls its crab straight from the sea and serves it within the hour at its famous crab market, while Kampot, a short drive inland, blends crumbling French colonial architecture with pepper plantations – producing some of the finest pepper on earth. Add a sunset river cruise and a night in a colonial-era hotel, and the coast feels like an entirely different country, in the same spirit that a detour beyond Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City rewards travellers exploring Vietnam.

Travel into Cambodia’s northeast and the landscape shifts entirely. Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri are highland provinces of waterfalls, coffee farms, and indigenous communities with their own distinct culture, a world away from the lowland Khmer heartland. Elephant valley projects here prioritise observation over interaction, letting former working elephants roam freely while you watch from a respectful distance. 

Cambodia’s capital deserves more than a single afternoon. The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda are the obvious draws, but the riverside promenade, the Art Deco Central Market, and the French Quarter streets all reward a slower pace. Phnom Penh also holds a difficult, important history at Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek, and understanding this recent past adds real depth to everything else you will see in the country.

Ready to see Cambodia beyond Angkor Wat? Our expert travel designers can weave the Cardamom rainforest, the southern coast, and the quiet islands into a single, seamless itinerary. Browse our featured Cambodia journeys, or contact our team to begin planning your own Cambodian odyssey.