Phnom Penh Travel Guide

Cambodia’s capital city is also its largest and most populous and is to be found in the country’s south-central region at the confluence of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers. Infamy and notoriety befell the city in the late 1970s under the ruling of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime. Since then, Phnom Penh has successfully recovered to become a popular tourist destination which is making good use of its rich cultural heritage and fine colonial architecture.

Grim as it may seem, the city’s essential visitor locations are related to the suffering and genocide of the Khmer Rouge years. Tuol Sleng, now a museum, was once a detention camp in which various vile atrocities were perpetrated against ‘enemies’ of the system. At the Killing Fields, mass graves and the skulls of the many that lost their lives here make for gruesome but historically essential viewing.

The city has a good selection of museums covering less morbid themes, concentrating more on the country’s lengthy history, as well as a number of art galleries where the works of famous Cambodian artists are displayed. Buddhist structures are an abundant feature of the city, with no shortage of temples to hand plus the famous Silver Pagoda which features some 5,000 silver tiles and the Golden Buddha, which is decorated with around 9,000 diamonds.

Phnom Penh Attractions

Tuol Sleng: many of the rooms of what was once a Khmer Rouge detention camp have been left unchanged to demonstrate the grim conditions which inmates were subjected to. A harrowing but altogether essential visitor experience.

The Killing Fields: it was here that men, women and children were butchered and buried in mass graves. The site has been left as untouched as possible to retain the essence of its original appearance.

National Museum: artifacts assembled from all over Cambodia detail the lengthy and fascinating history of the Khmer people.

Royal Palace: is in fact a collection of traditional Khmer style buildings, one of which contains the Throne Hall, perhaps the most significant building.

Wat Phnom: the city’s most important temple sits atop a small hill and offers visitors views of traditional Southeast Asian architecture and interior furnishings.