Start from 30 curated places around Phnom Penh, KH, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Malis Restaurant
The standard-bearer for fine Khmer cooking, in a garden-courtyard setting in BKK1 that draws Cambodian families for special occasions. The kitchen elevates village dishes like fish amok and prahok-laced salads to a level you will not find at the street stalls. This is the place to understand how good Cambodian food can be when given room.
Khmer Surin
A long-running BKK1 favourite spread over several floors of a traditional wooden house hung with lanterns and antiques. The menu runs across Khmer and Thai classics, and the layered, leafy interior is half the reason to come. A reliable, atmospheric introduction to the local kitchen at a fair price.
Trails & outdoors
Sisowath Quay
The riverfront promenade running along the Tonle Sap opposite the Royal Palace, a flat landscaped boulevard that is the city's communal living room. At dawn and dusk locals fill it for tai chi, aerobics and strolling, with the rivers on one side and cafes on the other. The easiest, most atmospheric walk in town.
Wat Botum Park
A leafy public park between the Royal Palace and Independence Monument, shaded by old trees and dotted with monuments and a temple. It is a flat, easy green loop in the centre, busiest in the cool of early morning and evening with families and exercisers. A pleasant pause from the surrounding traffic.
Things to do
National Museum of Cambodia
The terracotta-red pavilion beside the Royal Palace holding the world's finest collection of Khmer sculpture, drawn from Angkor and beyond. The galleries open onto a serene central courtyard garden that is reason enough to visit. The single best place to understand the artistry behind the temples you may go on to see at Angkor.
Central Market
The great art-deco market hall of 1937, a cross-shaped dome painted ochre-yellow that is a landmark in its own right. Under its arms you will find everything from gold and gems to fabric, electronics and a food court of Khmer stalls. Come as much for the architecture and the bustle as for anything you might buy.
Landmarks & sights
Royal Palace of Cambodia
The walled royal compound on the riverfront, a complex of gilded, steep-roofed throne halls and pavilions that is still the king's official residence. The showpiece is the Silver Pagoda, its floor laid with thousands of solid silver tiles and a Buddha set with diamonds. It is the single most concentrated dose of Khmer royal architecture in the country.
Wat Phnom
The hilltop temple that gave the city its name, set on the only rise in an otherwise flat town and reached by a naga-railed staircase. Legend has it a woman named Penh founded it to house Buddha images she fished from the river. It is a working temple where locals come to pray for luck, busy with incense and caged birds rather than tourists.