Sihanoukville is a popular site for local and international tourists come to visit every day, Sihanoukville surrounded by beaches and idyllic tropical islands, Sihanoukville (Kampong Som) is Cambodia's premier seaside resort that attracted a lot of tourists from everywhere around the world. Numbers of visitors come to visit Sihanoukville have risen rapidly in recent years, but despite the boomtown rents, the city's bars and sands remain laid-back. Most of action happen not far from the scruffy city centre on busy Occheuteal Beach, for peace and quiet, venture south of town to Otres Beach or hit one of the islands.
Sihanoukville is the best place for your trip in Cambodia. In recent years some new resorts have been build, and a raft of new luxury hotels and condominiums are rumoured to be in the works
Sihanoukville Sights & Activities
Sihanoukville's sandy beaches are in a state of flux as developers move in and murky leases are signed to cash in on the tourism boom.Most central is Occheuteal Beach.
On the south of Occheuteal, gloriously quiet Otres Beach is a seemingly infinite strip of almost-empty white sand, populated by casuarinas and a small colony of mellow resort at the south end.
Northwest of Serendipity, all but a tiny stretch of pretty 1.5km-long Sokha Beach now belongs to the Sokha Beach Resort. Independence Beach is a good stretch of clean sand but is being developed.
A bit north of tiny, secluded Koh Pos Beach, a bridge links the mainland with Koh Pos (Snake Island), where a Russian firm has plans to build a resort city. The original backpacker beach, Victory Beach, under Russian management, is clean, orderly and devoid of buzz.
Diving Sihanoukville
The diving near Sihanoukville is not terrific.It gets better the further you go out, although you still should not expect anything on par with the western Gulf of Thailand or the Andaman Sea. Most serious trips will hit Koh Rong Samoem while overnight trips target the distant island of Koh Tang and Koh Prins.
Around Sihanoukville
In Sihanoukville there are dozen of tropical islands dot the water. Developer have been drooling over the islands for years, but so far wide-scale development have been kept at bay. The most appealing of the island are neighboring Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samoem, both about two hours offshore and ringed by white-sand beache that count among Cambodia's best. Plans to turn Kong Rong into a Cambodian version of Thailand's Koh Samui, complete with ring road and airport, have stalled. Koh Rong Saloem has a few lonely resorts of its own and some amazing wildlife, including macaques, black squirrels and sea eagles.
Closer to Sihanoukville, little Koh Ta Kiev has two resorts and a long white beach, while you ca,n snorkel off Koh Russi (Bamboo Island).
OCHHEUTEAL BEACH
Ochheuteal is the largest and most popular beach of Sihanoukville. It’s a two km stretch of fine sand, but – as said in the introduction – quite narrow compared to some of the beaches in Thailand, especially at high tide. Ochheuteal is filled with beach stands and chairs. Across the street from the beach, there's a plethora of restaurants, hotels and guesthouses. The southern end of the beach is slated for probably yet another resort style ‘development project’. The northern end of Ochheuteal is called Serendipity Beach.
SERENDIPITY BEACH
The north-western end of Ochheuteal Beach is the place for backpackers, with cheap accommodation nearby or even right on the beach, and affordable eateries. Some of the simple huts and other accommodation can be had for free in the low season, provided you take your lunch and dinner at the establishment. Sometimes people refer to Ochheuteal as ‘Serendipity’, probably because it’s – for Westerners – much easier to pronounce.
OTRES BEACH
A little further out, but well worth the trip: we would call Otres Beach the best – publicly accessible – beach of Sihanoukville. A few years ago, entrepreneurial souls saw the potential of this stretch of sand along the Gulf of Thailand and set up businesses: simple shacks, bars and restaurants.
Soon, it gained a reputation, especially among expats, for its serenity and lack of sellers and beggars. Then, as so often in Cambodia, some of the high and mighty also saw the development potential and bulldozed everything down in 2010. For some – no doubt ugly – development which has not appeared yet. Surprise, surprise…
The central portion of the beach is closed, but elsewhere, slowly but surely, the area is rebuilding!
SOKHA BEACH
Although this is the most beautiful beach of Sihanoukville, it is not publicly accessible. The beach is cordoned off by the Sokha Beach Resort, or whatever it is called, part of the powerful Sokimex conglomerate (which also happens to exploit the Temples of Angkor – no kidding, the entrance fees at the World Heritage site of Anglor go into private hands!).
If you are willing to make the Sokha owners even richer, pay $10 (!!!) for the privilege of using the hotel part of the beach…
INDEPENDENCE BEACH
Continuing to the north from Sokha, next is Independence Beach. This beach is a bit narrower and rockier, and is inhabited by just a few thatched roof shacks that sell snacks and drinks. A nice place for people who want a quiet, but easily accessible beach. Almost no sellers are active here. At the far end of the beach, the hotel from which the beach gets its name, the Independence Hotel, sits atop a point. Since the hotel has seven stories, the local name for this beach is ‘Seven Stories Beach’ or ‘7-Chhan-Beach’ and so it is mentioned on street signs.
HAWAII BEACH
The western beaches of Sihanoukville are together called ‘Victory Beaches’, divided by the Friendship monument in the middle. The southern part is commonly referred to as Hawaii Beach, which tends to be much more popular with locals than tourists. It’s a bit rocky and muddy in places, and dominated by the huge Techo Morakat Bridge from the mainland to – you guessed it – another development on the island off the south-western coast, called Koh Puos.
VICTORY BEACH
Once this was the most popular area to stay in Sihanoukville, but the beach and nearby Weather Station Hill have lost out to Ochheuteal Beach. It is a fairly short beach, but it offers a view of the ships passing by from Sihanoukville port at the northern end. The distinctive Airport Nightclub sits near the entrance to the beach. Next to the Airport Club, boats for hire operate off of the pier.
ISLAND BEACHES
Sihanoukville's most beautiful beaches aren't on the mainland, they are on the islands near the coast. A real jewel is Bamboo Island (Koh Russei), one of the closest islands. It is a small island with breathtakingly beautiful beaches on two sides, connected by a kilometer and a half long path cutting through the jungle covered interior. There is a small bar/bungalow establishment on the windward side of the island for those wanting to stay the night. Getting to the island is an easy 45 minute boat trip.
There are quite a few islands dotting the gulf within day-trip distance of Sihanoukville. For snorkelling, Koh Ta Kiev is one of the best. Three lovely beaches shaded by pine trees are accessible on the island and its coral reefs that make for excellent snorkelling. But again, sigh, Koh Ta Kiev has been leased to a foreign company — the same French outfit that has taken 99-year leases on half of Koh Russei and parts of Ream National Park.
Ream National Park
Ream National Park also know as Preah Sihanouk National Park, this park - now seriously endangered by commercial development - comprises 150 sq km of primary forests and is an excellent place to see wildlife.
Fascinating 2 to 3 hours jungle walks ($8 per person) are led by rangers (most, but not all, speak English), and are easy to arrange.
Getting to Sihanouk Ville
Go to Sihanouville travel from Siem Reap , you will passes through Phnom Penh. If you leave from Siem reap early morning can get there in a long day, about 9 to 10 hours if you choose bus or taxi. But you to there by plan it will be faster.
Temple-beach combo holidays will be an easy option when and if newly reconstructed Sihanoukville International Airport, 18km east of town, resumes flights to/from Siem Reap. At press time the de facto national carrier, Cambodia Angkor Air, continued to resist opening this route, and the airport remained sequentially mothballed.
All of the major bus companies have frequent connections with Phnom Penh ($3.75 to $6, four hours) from early morning until at least 2pm, after which trips are sporadic.
Eating and Drinking
Occheuteal Beach is lined with beach bars that are perfect for sun-downers; hit the north end of Serendipity beach for a more laid-back scene. A few long standing and genuinely cool regular bars remain standing amid the girlie bars of Victory Hill. Rambunctious late-night action takes place either side of the pier dividing Occheuteal and Serendipity Beach.
Sihanoukville's center of culinary gravity has shifted to the serendipity area, but the main drag of Victory Hill still has some good value restaurants. The gritty commercial center also holds a few pleasant surprises.
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