We were heading to Phnom Penh for 3 days as part of a trip to Cambodia, China and the Philippines. Phnom Penh was a place we had previously visited back in 2019 when we were travelling with our kids. We were keen to see if the city had changed much in the last 6 years. We were flying into Phnom Penh from Singapore on what was supposed to be a flight landing at 9am.
Instead we were delayed 3 hours in Singapore. Don’t let anyone tell you that more expensive airlines means less delays. This delay was with Singapore Airlines, one of the top airlines in the world. In all our years of travelling Bec and I have only ever been delayed a handful of times and it happened 3 times on this trip. Delays are one of the things I hate about flying.
Anyway, back to our Phnom Penh itinerary. We ended up landing at 12.30pm instead. A morning lost means we have 60 hours in Phnom Penh. Here’s how we spent it as a couple in our 40s and 50s.
How to Spend 3 Days in Phnom Penh
Arrival Point: Techo International Airport (KTI)
Important update: When we flew in we landed at the old Phnom Penh International Airport, which was in its last throes of life. It has since closed for good. Techo International Airport now takes all the flights into the capital. It sits around 20 kilometres south of the city so it’s a longer drive in than we had. Allow about 40 minutes into town depending on traffic.
Visa Requirements: Most tourists visiting Cambodia require a 30-day visa. You can easily apply via the official e-Visa Cambodian Government website like we did. Visa on arrival is also available, but really, who wants to be bothered with organizing that once you land. The e-Visa costs $30USD.
The Phnom Penh International Airport was in its last throes of life when we arrived. It has since shut down completely and been replaced by the new Techo International Airport. We did not have a transfer booked. Instead we used Grab. I had watched a YouTube video showing where the Grab pick up point was and we were all set. If you’d rather have it sorted before you land, you can pre-book an airport transfer. Probably a better idea now the new airport is further out.
Where did we stay in Phnom Penh: Ohana Palace Hotel.
The Ohana Palace was an easy choice for us. It came in at around $100AUD per night. It was located 100 metres from the riverside, it had 2 happy hours per day, a rooftop bar, 2 swimming pools and breakfast was included. As you know that’s a mandatory inclusion for my wife.
The room was big and comfy, the aircon worked well and we had a balcony looking over our street. You can also check rates on Agoda or browse all Phnom Penh accommodation options.
After arriving at our hotel we checked in and headed to our room. After travelling overnight we were a little tired but we pressed on with our plans as we only had 2.5 days in Phnom Penh.
FYI Information: Cambodia operates a dual-currency system where USD is widely accepted. If you pay for things with your card you will be charged in USD. If you go to a shop the prices will often be listed in USD, but you can pay in cash with the local currency, Cambodian Riel (KHR).
Day 1 in Phnom Penh
2.00pm to 5.00pm
We headed out the front of our hotel and booked a tuk tuk on Grab to take us to the S21 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Grab is the rideshare app of choice across Southeast Asia, much like DiDi is in China. Much of Cambodia’s history is influenced by a period of time where the Khmer Rouge ruled the country.
The Khmer Rouge was a brutal communist regime led by Pol Pot that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. They killed an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people while in power, roughly a quarter of the population at that time. This is not a place for the faint hearted. People brought here during that time were tortured and killed en masse.
We will not go into too much detail about what we saw at the S21 Prison and Museum, but your best bet is to grab an audio guide and make your way around the site. Just as a warning there are some pretty horrific images along with bones and skulls. The S21 Prison and Museum costs $5USD for entry. We jumped in another tuk tuk and headed back to the hotel.
5.00pm to 8.00pm
Happy hour on the roof was starting and if you know us, that’s our happy time of the day. The rooftop at the Ohana Palace Hotel was pretty special with views of the Tonle Sap River and the Royal Palace. The hotel had 2 happy hours a day. You can not beat that. One was poolside from 2pm to 4pm and one on the rooftop from 5pm to 7pm.
The happy hour special was two for the price of one, which we took full advantage of. Nothing beats an affordable cocktail. It works out at $4USD for 2 cocktails. For couples travelling after 50 who try to keep costs down without missing out, you cannot beat these prices at the rooftop bar.
8.00pm to 9.30pm
We made our way down to the Phnom Penh Riverside. At night it is a lively place with a number of food stalls and a small market area dotted along it. We walked along checking different foods, watching people sit around and watch the boats cruising down the river and took some pictures of the Cambodian Royal Palace all lit up.
The riverside really comes alive at night. It’s a chaotic atmosphere with lots going on. Music, traffic, food, drinks. It’s a bit of a party atmosphere. After walking a few kilometres we stopped at Harry’s Bar on the corner of Riverwalk Street and Street 148, about 50 metres from the Ohana Palace Hotel. Harry’s became our regular place over the next few days. They have all day $2 Long Island Ice Teas and Cosmopolitans. We had some home made spring rolls with cocktails for dinner. Day 1 was drawing to an end as we headed back to our hotel for the evening.
Download Grab before you land and set it up at the airport. It works for both cars and tuk tuks and gives you a fixed price upfront. It’s the only way to know you’re not being overcharged for every ride in the city.
Day 2 in Phnom Penh
6.00am to 8.00am
I am an early riser at home and on holidays. So while Bec slept i headed out to check out what the Phnom Penh Riverside was like at 6am. I love cities at this hour before they become all hectic with people and traffic. The riverside was peaceful. Very peaceful. I took a seat and watched the sunrise over the river. It was beautiful as traditional boats were coming and going.
I walked about a kilometre along the bank before stopping at Starbucks against my better judgement. I don’t usually drink Starbucks coffee because on the whole it is pretty average coffee. Coffee at Starbucks in Phnom Penh was on par with western prices at around $6AUD for a latte. I headed back to the hotel to wake Bec up for our first hotel breakfast at the Ohana Palace.
8.00am to 9.30am
After waking Bec up we headed to the rooftop of the hotel where breakfast was served overlooking the river. They had a pretty good spread to be honest. A mix of hot foods in the bain maries, pastries, cereals and fresh fruit. It met with the tick of approval from Bec who loves a good hotel breakfast. It’s one of the reasons we pick hotels over Airbnb most of the time.
9.30am to 12.30pm
We ordered a Grab to take us to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, which is part of the Killing Fields area just out of the city. It was 13 kilometres from our hotel.
Our Grab driver offered to wait for us and give us a ride back into the city. In the end the return trip cost us around $28AUD. The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center is a moving and emotional place to visit. It is eye opening and confronting all in one.
You will learn about the horrors that took place here. You will see areas of mass graves and places where kids were killed. It is not for the faint hearted that’s for sure. It will fill your heart with sorrow and sadness with what took place here. It gave us the same sort of feeling we had when we visited Auschwitz. The feeling of how could we do this to each other. Entry into the Genocide Centre was $5USD per person which includes an audio guide.
12.30pm to 2.30pm
We headed back into the city centre and got dropped off at the Royal Palace. Just be aware that a lot of places do not accept payment by card, even sites run by the government. We had run out of cash and after being told we could not pay by card we had to find an ATM down the road. Entry to the palace was $10USD each.
When i say it’s a palace, it’s more like you get access to the grounds and some of the buildings on the grounds. This is because the current King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihamoni, lives in the private residential section inside the Royal Palace complex.
What you can see is a few stunning buildings such as the Throne Hall, the Silver Pagoda, the open-air Moonlight Pavilion and a French-gifted Pavilion. The French Gifted Pavilion was our favourite even though it’s far removed from looking Cambodian. Just be aware you cannot go inside any of these buildings. You can view the inside from the doorways.
We went in the middle of the day when the sun was at its hottest and to be honest there is very little shade. It can be very hot walking around this palace compound. Lucky for us our hotel was only a few hundred metres away.
3.00pm to 6.00pm
After arriving back at the Ohana Palace Hotel we got into our bathers and spent the next few hours poolside at the ground level pool. Coincidence or not, it was afternoon happy hour time when we arrived. We cooled down in the water, enjoyed a few cocktails and ordered some spring rolls to munch on.
6.00pm to 8.30pm
Before arriving in Phnom Penh we booked an evening sunset river cruise with free flow beer and soft drinks. It sounded like something we would enjoy. The tour included a free hotel pickup which took us to our boat on the banks of the Tonlé Sap River.
We were the first to arrive and for a bit we thought we may have been the only people doing this cruise, but others slowly arrived. We grabbed a few free beers and took up position on the side of the boat so we could get a good view of the Phnom Penh skyline.
The boat takes you along the bank of the city until the Tonlé Sap River merges with the mighty Mekong River. These rivers make for a huge waterway as we headed for the opposite side of the river to check out the ethnic Vietnamese floating village built out over the river.
Watch our full review on YouTube
I must say it seems like a cool way to live. Simple and family friendly. The kids from the village lined up to wave. We had a guide on board telling us about all the sights on the way. Heading back to where we started was the highlight as we got to see the sun setting over the city.
We paid around $25 Australian each as we booked the trip prior to getting to Phnom Penh Cambodia. In reality you could easily get it cheaper if you wandered down to the river bank and organised it yourself with one of the many boats offering the same trip. Was the trip worth it?
I would say yes. It was a good way to spend a few hours in the evening in Phnom Penh. It is not a must do but if you’re looking for something to do it’s a decent way to spend a few hours.
8.30pm to 9.30pm
After getting off the boat we walked back along the river and stopped in at the Phnom Penh Night Market. It was full of stores selling souvenirs, fakes, clothes and all the stuff you find at a night market in Asia. We headed towards the back of the market where we took a seat at a small local food stand and grabbed a Beef Lok Lak and a Stir Fried Beef with noodles.
The prices were unbelievable. We paid under $10AUD for 2 meals and two soft drinks. Cheap eats like this are why we keep going back to Asia, same as the street food alley we found in Bangkok.
Day 3 in Phnom Penh
8.00am to 9.00am
Slow start to the day as we had a lie in before heading to breakfast on the rooftop. I could easily enjoy breakfast every day with the view you get from the rooftop of this hotel. Breakfast was pretty much similar to the day before. Plenty of fresh fruit, breads and hot Asian options in the bain marie.
9.00am to 12.00pm
We booked a Grab and headed to a fake French neighbourhood called the Elysée, which is in the Koh Pich area of the city. You may have seen similar places in China on YouTube and TikTok. This neighbourhood had been built to resemble a neighbourhood in Paris. It even has its own Arc de Triomphe.
It’s the sort of quirky attraction that we love having a look at. The Grab took us around 20 minutes to reach the neighbourhood and cost us $5AUD. We pulled up in the shadow of the fake Arc.
Much like many of these reproduction areas around the world, this neighbourhood was pretty empty. Shops closed everywhere, not many people walking around. We did find a Tube Coffee shop where we enjoyed an iced coffee. There was a hospital and a pharmacy and that was about it.
I am not sure if the apartments were expensive, but we thought it would be a cool place to live. Some of the apartments had riverside facings. It was quite a strange experience. Like walking through a ghost neighbourhood with towering apartment blocks on each side of you but no one in sight.
See what we found in fake Paris on YouTube
I was disappointed that the fake Arc de Triomphe could not be accessed. I thought they would at least have a viewing platform on the top of it. I wouldn’t say it’s a must visit in Phnom Penh but if you like quirky things then it’s well worth a look. In all honesty it did have a Paris feel about the design of it all.
12.00pm to 4.00pm
It was time for some shopping so we headed to the AEON Mall Sen Sok City, which is a big shopping mall. Strangely enough we like having a look in supermarkets to see what they sell and what the local prices are like. Do they sell products from Australia? Are there any local products we can pick up to take home? It is strange i know but it is something we like doing.
From here we jumped in a tuk tuk and headed to the Central Market. It’s a big sprawling building built in the 1930s which features a central dome with 4 arms running from the centre. When it opened in 1937 it was the biggest market in Asia. Today it has been well and truly overtaken.
For those that love a good market you will find all the usual things. Consumer electronics, clothes, fakes, souvenirs and more. It is a great place to try some Cambodian cuisine with a food court. Well, it’s not really a food court. Just an area in the market filled with small stands and small seats serving up local food for a few dollars.
The market was hot, sweaty and crowded as you would expect from one of the top tourist sites in the city. The dome in the centre was impressive and this is where you will find the stalls selling all the jewelry and watches. The expensive stuff as i would describe it.
Just near our hotel, and when i say near, you could see it from our balcony, was the wet market in Phnom Penh. It is the type of place where they sell meats, fish and vegetables. A wander through can turn your stomach and leave you amazed that they sell fresh meat sitting out on stalls under the hot sun.
This market takes up a whole city block with both indoor and outdoor stalls lining the surrounds. The inside resembles a maze with walkways going in every direction.
4.00pm to 6.00pm
We headed back to our Phnom Penh hotel to start packing up our stuff. We had an 11pm flight with China Eastern to Shanghai. With our bags packed, clothes changed and everything sorted we kicked back and relaxed in our air conditioned room for a bit.
6.00pm to 7.30pm
We decided to head back to Harry’s Bar for one last round of cocktails and some spring rolls before going to the airport. We had a Grab booked for 8pm. There was an Irish guy who ran the bar who we had been chatting to over the few days when we called in. We spent the time taking in the last sights of the traffic and people making their way along the road and footpath on the riverside. Sadly it was time to leave.
8.00pm
Our Grab arrived and we loaded in our bags and headed to Phnom Penh Airport for our flight to China.
Best time to visit Phnom Penh
November to April is the best time to visit Phnom Penh. That’s the dry season. January and February are the pick of the bunch. Cooler, less humid and easier for walking around, especially if you’re doing the Killing Fields.
We went in July which is wet season. It doesn’t rain all day. It comes in hard for an hour or two in the afternoon then clears. Mornings are fine for getting around. It’s hot and humid year round. Thirty degrees plus most days. Take light clothes and drink plenty of water. We managed fine in July and the tourist numbers were lower which suited us.
Is Phnom Penh safe for tourists?
We felt safe in all the tourist areas including at night. The riverside, the markets, walking back to the hotel after dinner. No issues at any point on this trip or in 2019.
The usual common sense applies. Don’t flash expensive gear. Keep your phone in your pocket when you’re not using it. Use Grab instead of negotiating with random drivers. Keep your eyes open in the busy market areas. Phnom Penh has a reputation that puts some people off. As tourists sticking to the main areas it felt no more threatening than any other Southeast Asian city we’ve visited.
Practical tips for visiting Phnom Penh
Get your data sorted before you arrive. We used Saily eSIM for this trip and had it working before we landed. Grab needs data to work so sort it early. And get your travel insurance sorted before you go. Medical facilities outside the main Phnom Penh hospitals are limited. Just get covered.
Carry cash. We got caught out at the Royal Palace with no cash and no card facilities. ATMs are around but don’t assume you can pay by card anywhere, even at government run sites.
Has Phnom Penh changed since 2019?
Some things have. The airport was on its last legs and about to be replaced. There’s a lot more development around the edges of the city. The fake French neighbourhood didn’t exist last time we were here.
But the core of the city is the same. The riverside, the markets, the traffic, the history. Six years on and it still feels like Phnom Penh.
Is Phnom Penh worth visiting?
We really enjoyed Phnom Penh. It still feels loose and undeveloped compared to some Asian cities. The pull of the tourist dollar has not yet struck fully. There are still parts of the city with gravel roads and unfinished buildings. It feels alive and busy and a little lawless to be honest. But that’s the type of place we love visiting.
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For accommodation in Phnom Penh there are options across all budgets. We stayed at the Ohana Palace Hotel and would happily stay there again.
Is Phnom Penh worth visiting?
Yes. We have been twice now, once with our kids in 2019 and once as a couple. It still feels loose and undeveloped compared to some Asian cities. The history is confronting but important, the food is cheap and good and there is enough to fill three days. It is rough around the edges and that is part of what makes it interesting.
How many days do you need in Phnom Penh?
Three days is enough. We had 60 hours after a flight delay and covered S21, the Killing Fields, the Royal Palace, the Central Market, the night market, a sunset river cruise and the Elysée fake French neighbourhood in Koh Pich. Two full days is the minimum if you want to do S21 and the Killing Fields properly.
Is Phnom Penh safe for tourists?
We felt safe in all the tourist areas including at night, both on this trip and in 2019. Use Grab instead of negotiating with random tuk tuk drivers. Don’t flash expensive belongings. Be aware in busy market areas. Phnom Penh’s reputation is worse than the reality for tourists sticking to the main areas.
What currency do you use in Phnom Penh?
Cambodia runs a dual-currency system. US dollars are widely accepted and prices are often listed in USD. You can also pay cash in Cambodian Riel. Bring cash — we got caught out at the Royal Palace where cards were not accepted and had to find an ATM down the road.
Do you need a visa for Cambodia?
Most tourists need a 30-day visa. You can apply online through the official e-Visa Cambodian Government website before you travel, which costs $30USD. Visa on arrival is also available but sorting it before you land saves you the hassle at the airport.
What is the best way to get around Phnom Penh?
Use Grab for everything. It works for both cars and tuk tuks and gives you a fixed price upfront so you know you are not being overcharged. Set it up before you arrive so it is ready to use from the airport. A Grab from the city to the Killing Fields and back cost us around $28AUD with the driver waiting.
Should I visit the Killing Fields and S21 in Phnom Penh?
Yes. Neither is an easy visit but both are important. Entry to each is $5USD and the audio guide is included at the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. Be warned there are confronting images, bones and skulls. It gave us the same feeling we had visiting Auschwitz. Give yourself a full morning for the Killing Fields.
What is the best time to visit Phnom Penh?
November to April is the dry season and the easiest time to visit. January and February are the pick of the bunch. Cooler, less humid and better for walking around. We went in July which is wet season. The rain comes in hard for an hour or two in the afternoon then clears. Mornings were fine. Temperatures sit around 30 degrees plus year round.
Is Phnom Penh good for couples?
Yes. The riverside has good bars and restaurants, the rooftop happy hours are cheap, the sunset river cruise is a nice evening out and the markets and history give you plenty to fill three days. We did it with kids in 2019 and as a couple this time and enjoyed both.
Which airport do you fly into for Phnom Penh?
Techo International Airport (KTI). The old Phnom Penh International Airport closed permanently in September 2025 after nearly 70 years of service. Techo is around 20 kilometres south of the city so it is a longer drive in than the old airport. Allow about 40 minutes into town depending on traffic.
