Sihanoukville: The most popular beach destination in Cambodia

Cambodia is mostly known for its temples, but its south coast has an amazing stretch of white sandy beaches. The two most popular beach destinations are Sihanoukville and Kep, while the other two beautiful, but remote destinations are Koh Kong and Koh Rong. Out of these four places, most of the tourists prefer to visit Sihanoukville due to its large sandy beaches and good tourist infrastructure.


It is not that Sihanoukville is the best place, but it offers a great base to get to the other places. It has great travel booking setups who will help you understand the various possibilities and options to get to the islands or neighboring beach towns.


If you just feel like spending your holiday in one town, then Sihanoukville also offers you the option of many beaches like the very clean Otres beach or the very touristy Serendipity and Occhetual beaches, the quieter Independence and Freedom beaches and some more. The city also has forests and mountains nearby that you can explore by foot, on a bicycle or on a motorbike. If you feel like pampering yourself, there are tuk tuks and air conditioned taxis for you to explore the city.


If you are the one beach type, just sit back, get a pedicure or massage on the beach, enjoy the local seafood, especially the baby squids that are found in plenty in these waters, go on long swims, read your books during the day while you sunbathe and then party in the night. The beaches of Sihanoukville have basically all the things that a tourist seeks for in his beach holiday.


This beach town is also ideal for young travelers with a hip crowd, great parties, a lovely choice of beach facing bars, good assortment of restaurants, scuba diving opportunities and more. In sum, Sihanoukville has all the ingredients for making a great destination and once you have warmed up to this place, you can visit the other remote islands from here for a more exclusive beach holiday.

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Monkey Republic: A Popular Backpacking Hostel in Sihanoukville, Cambodia

The Monkey brand is pretty popular with backpackers in Sihanoukville and Koh Rong. It is run by expats like most of the tourist accommodation in these two places and is quite busy during the tourist season. I stayed here for one day and one night while I was at Sihanoukville. I stayed longer at Sihanoukville, but kept moving base from one hostel to another. The below review is based on my experience of staying here recently.

1) Run by expats and managed by English speaking locals, the Monkey Republic hostel and their Monkey Island property on Koh Rong is immensely popular with backpackers and solo travelers. Their rooms are bunk bed style dormitories that are basic, yet comfortable.

2) They charge $3 per bed, but give you all the basic amenities that a backpacker seeks, i.e. large bed, towel, free wi-fi, clean bathroom and toilet, 4-bed dormitories with private sit outs, etc.

3) The place comes with an attached bar, restaurant, a pool table and a great set of people to interact with.

4) The hostel has a great name in their respective area and hence all the locals know it. They arrange tours, do bus and hotel bookings too. They have their own dive agency that is situated next door to them.

5) Since the place is frequented by young travelers, it has quite a party culture and this might irk those early sleepers whose rooms are close to the bar or pool table area.

Overall, the place is ideal for people traveling on a shoestring, who need good company and seek basic but important amenities in their hostel

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The Led Zephyr Bungalows, Sihanoukville, Cambodia: A Review

If you are planning a holiday in Sihanoukville, you should stay close to one of its beaches. Serendipity and Occheteual beaches are the most popular with tourists and have all the facilities and amenities. The Otres beach is more known for its clean beach and is fast becoming popular with tourists. During my 2nd stay at Sihanoukville, I stayed at the Led Zephyr Bungalows for a day and a night. I would have stayed longer, but had to look out for a different place as the hostel was booked for the next day. The Led Zephyr Bungalows is actually a hostel run by an expat and his team. Below review is based on my recent experience of staying with them.

1) They have both AC and non-AC dormitories. AC dorm beds come for $5 per person, while it costs $4 for a bed in a fan room.

2) Each dormitory has 4 beds and is a mixed dormitory style. For people who prefer more privacy, the hostel also has some rooms.

3) Like all hostels, this place also comes with a lot of shared bathrooms, a open sit out with chairs and tables. You can either sit and check your email and catch up with friends over a drink.

4) The rooms are fairly decent with large size beds, mosquito beds and good ventilation. However, since the property is located close to dense tree cover, you can expect large geckos and insects to enter your room and say ‘HELLO’.

5) The one thing that irked me here is the hygiene level of the bathrooms and the toilets in the 2nd half of the day. In the mornings, they are very nice and clean, but as the day goes on, it gets dirtier and stinky. May be, it is because tourists put toilet paper into the bowl when the system does not allow it, but that is not my headache, but the hostel’s problem.

6) The place has free wi-fi, has an attached bar and restaurant where live music is played and does bus and other travel bookings.

7) The hostel is not far away from the beach, other restaurants and the to-visit places.

Overall, it is a good place for backpackers and is worth the four dollars that you spend, but even then I would like the place better if they improved their bathroom and toilet hygiene conditions.

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Happa Restaurant, Sihanoukville, Cambodia: Best Food in Town

Do you like Teppaniyaki, Japanese or Cambodian food? Do you like steaks, rib eyes or crocodile fillets? If you answer ‘yes’ to either of the above questions, then you need to eat at the Happa Restaurant. I liked their food so much that I ate all my four dinners at that restaurant. Unfortunately for me, they open up only at 5 pm else I would have had all my meals there. The Happa restaurant is situated on the road leading to the Serendipity beach in Sihanoukville. The restaurant opens at 5 pm every evening and takes the last order at 10 pm. In between, they are a maze of hectic business and good food. Like most of Cambodia, you will have to wait for your order. But, the wait is not that bad as you can see the open kitchen and smell the various dishes that are being prepared on the Teppaniyaki grill.


The best vegetarian items on their menu are the Cambodian dishes of Amok, Cha Kroueng and Cambodian curry. Apart from these, the Yakisoba, Tofu steak and grilled eggplant with grated coconut are also fabulous. For meat lovers, they have yakisoba with seafood, rib eye steaks, crocodile fillet, mixed platter, lamb skewers, seafood platter in butter and soya sauce, the cambodian dishes with fish and chicken, beef lok lok and more.


They also serve alcoholic beverages, wine and non-alcoholic beverages. They have a small collection of desserts too though I have not tasted them. In terms of price, they are much more expensive than the rest of Cambodia. Prices start at $3.75 and goes up to $12.25 for a dish. The helpings are of good size and the best thing is that all the items on their menu taste yumm. I can vouch for the vegetarian options and my friend can do the same for the non-vegetarian fare. The only problem here is the wait time, which can be agonizing sometimes. But, if you can wait, their food will ensure that you wait is really SWEET. I would give this restaurant 5 Stars out of 5, in spite of their slow service as their food is the best you can eat in Sihanoukville or may be even Cambodia.

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Koh Rong Backpackers: Hostel on the Sea!!

Have you stayed in a property that is located on sea? Recently, I got the chance to stay at one such property when I went to the Koh Rong Island in South Cambodia. The place is called Koh Rong Backpackers and it is a hostel with dorm beds and shared bathrooms. I think it is also one of the first few hostels to be located on sea. It’s location is one of its trump cards, apart from the fact that is run by an expat and the people running the day-to-day operations are also expats. I stayed at this place for 3 nights and 4 days and the below review is based on that experience of mine.


1) The Koh Rong Backpackers with its dorm beds is one of the cheapest on the island. It costs $7 per bed.

2) The place has 40 beds, comes with shared bathrooms that are really clean, free wi fi and safety lockers.

3) The place has electricity during the day and the evening. Power gets turned off at around midnight. Electricity supply can be sporadic as it is powered by generators. But, this is the case with the rest of the island.

4) The best attribute about this place are the people running this place. The are all expats who love the island and have hence decided to stay here for as long as they can. They are very welcoming, great people to talk to and ensure that all your questions and needs are addressed.

5) The other good thing about this place is its restaurant. They serve great breakfast and fantastic Mexican food due to an in-house Mexican cook. Their burritos and fajitas are very yummy.

6) The place plays some great music that attracts a lot of people. If you like good music, you will enjoy this place. If music bothers you, you will not like this place as music plays from 10:30 AM to 11:30 PM.


7) Like other hostels, this place is great to meet fellow travelers. You can meet them in your dorm room, at the restaurant down below or near any of the hammocks that surround the dorm and provide an ocean view.

8) Since this place is located on the sea, it neither gets hot or cold. Temperatures stay comfortable all through the day. The walls in the rooms have openings all over and hence there is very good air circulation.

9) The dorm beds come with mosquito nets, but I hardly saw more than a couple of mosquitos. May be, the mosquitos don’t like to fly over the sea.

10) If you can sleep with the waves rolling from under you, this is a fabulous place. If the sound of the waves can bother you, this might not be the right place for you.

11) The sunrise from the hostel is one of the best on the island as you can just slouch in the hammock outside your dorm room and watch it. Even the view of the red and the yellow moon is lovely from the balcony.

12) The place can do with some plug points inside the dorm. Right now, all the plug points are located downstairs at the restaurant.

13) Wi-Fi is good as long as electricity is there. They have a backup battery to power the wi fi and emergency lights, but sometimes the battery dies out too.

14) The hostel is located close to both the dive shops on the island, is within walking distance of the village and the village market, the other bungalows and their restaurants and the boat jetty. This makes it easy for you to move around from place to place.

I would definitely recommend this place to all kinds of travelers. Personally, I would love to return here. The people, its location, its environment, the Mexican food and its value for money make it a hot favorite.

P.S. Koh Rong Island is very beautiful. Even if you don’t like this hostel for whatever reason, you will still like the island.

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