TRIP OVERVIEW
Day 1 – Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda · National Museum · Wat Ounalom · Wat Phnom
Day 2 – Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum · Choeung Ek Killing Fields · Independence Monument · Wat Botum Park
Day 3 – Wat Langka · Sisowath Quay · Koh Pich · Mekong Sunset Cruise
Day 4 – Tonle Bati · Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre
Day 5 – Central Post Office · Koh Dach
Day 1
1.Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda~2 hr
The current residence of the King of Cambodia, a walled compound of gilded, multi-tiered Khmer pavilions that also holds the Silver Pagoda and its floor of 5,329 silver tiles.
2.National Museum of Cambodia~1.5 hr
Cambodia's principal archaeological and cultural museum, holding bronze and sandstone Khmer sculpture spanning the pre-Angkorian, Angkorian and post-Angkorian periods, including works pulled from Angkor itself.
3.Wat Ounalom~30 min
The historic headquarters of Cambodian Buddhism, founded in 1443 on the Tonle Sap riverfront and rebuilt after the Khmer Rouge era, with 44 structures around its central stupa.
4.Wat Phnom~45 min
A 27-metre wooded hill crowned by a stupa and vihara, traditionally dated to Lady Penh’s founding of the city in 1372 — the only rise on an otherwise flat riverside skyline.
Day 2
1.Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum~2 hr
A former high school converted into Security Prison 21 by the Khmer Rouge, now a museum documenting the roughly 20,000 prisoners held and tortured here between 1975 and 1979.
2.Choeung Ek Killing Fields~2 hr
The most visited of the Khmer Rouge's mass killing sites, marked by a 62-metre memorial stupa holding thousands of excavated skulls, roughly 15km southwest of central Phnom Penh.
3.Independence Monument~20 min
A 20-metre lotus-shaped obelisk designed by Vann Molyvann and opened in 1962 to mark Cambodia's 1953 independence from France, floodlit gold after dark on its central roundabout.
4.Wat Botum Park~30 min
One of Phnom Penh's five oldest pagodas, founded by King Ponhea Yat in the 15th century, its temple grounds opening onto a shaded public park favoured by locals at dusk.
Daily 7:00am - 6:00pm
Day 3
1.Wat Langka~45 min
One of the five oldest pagodas in Phnom Penh, founded in 1442 for Sri Lankan and Khmer monks to study together; used as a Khmer Rouge-era warehouse, which is what saved it from destruction.
2.Sisowath Quay~1 hr
A 3-kilometre riverfront promenade facing the Tonle Sap, lined with parks, cafés and food stalls, and the busiest social space in the city from late afternoon on.
Open 24/7
3.Koh Pich · Diamond Island~1 hr
A reclaimed sandbar at the Bassac and Mekong confluence, rebuilt since 2007 into a riverside district of plazas, an Arc de Triomphe replica and a landscaped promenade.
Open 24/7
4.Mekong Sunset Cruise~1.5 hr
A riverboat cruise from a Sisowath Quay pier out to Chaktomuk, the four-river confluence where the Tonle Sap, Mekong and Bassac meet, timed to the sunset over the Royal Palace skyline.
Daily 4:30pm - 6:00pm
Day 4
1.Tonle Bati~1.5 hr
A riverside lake roughly 30km south of Phnom Penh, best known for the 12th-century Angkorian-era Ta Prohm temple on its banks and weekend picnic pavilions built out over the water.
2.Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre~2.5 hr
Cambodia's largest wildlife rescue centre, home to tigers, elephants, sun bears and gibbons rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, run by the Wildlife Alliance in partnership with the Forestry Administration.
Day 5
1.Central Post Office~20 min
A grand 1895 Neo-Classical building by French architect Daniel Fabre, still Phnom Penh's working main post office and one of the best-preserved civic buildings from the colonial era.
2.Koh Dach · Silk Island~2 hr
A Mekong river island reached by car ferry from Chroy Changvar, its villages still weaving silk on traditional wooden looms much as they have for generations, with a quiet, unhurried rural pace a world from the city centre.
Tours
Viator
An evening tuk-tuk crawl through 7 hidden stops for 20+ tastings of Cambodian street food and free-flow local drinks, finishing with a cocktail in a hidden garden speakeasy bar.
4 hr · up to 8
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A guided evening food crawl by Vespa or tuk-tuk through street food stalls, local restaurants and a craft-beer stop, with unlimited local beer or soft drinks along the way.
4 hr 30 min · up to 6
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A guided walk from Wat Langka past the Independence Monument, the Royal Palace exterior, back alleys and markets, pairing street-level history with local food stops.
3 hr 15 min · small group
A tablet-and-headphone audio walking tour of 22 French-protectorate-era sites across 19 stops, from the old Post Office to the Royal Palace, narrated with archival films and vintage photos.
2 hr 30 min · up to 10
A shared tuk-tuk or air-conditioned van circuit of the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, Genocide Museum and Killing Fields, with cold water, local snacks and a coffee break included.
5 hr · up to 12, shared
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GetYourGuide
A small-group circuit of the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields, tracing Cambodia's royal history and the Khmer Rouge years in one day.
5 hr · small group
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A small-group, air-conditioned-van day covering 18 of the city's landmarks alongside S21 Prison and the Killing Fields, paced without set timings and with an audio guide at both memorial sites.
8 hr 30 min · up to 7
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A local guide leads a 3-hour evening walk through quiet neighborhoods and family-run stalls off the main tourist paths, customizing tastings to dishes unmistakably Cambodian.
3 hr 30 min · up to 9
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TripAdvisor
A full day by air-conditioned van covering the Royal Palace, Wat Phnom, the Cambodia–Vietnam Friendship Monument, S21 Prison and the Killing Fields with an audio guide, finishing at Central Market.
8 hr 30 min · small group
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A guided drive out to a range on a military base southwest of the city for a supervised shoot across a range of firearms, with a safety briefing, earmuffs and unlimited beer included.
5 hr · small group
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A tuk-tuk and ferry crossing to Koh Dach's silk-weaving villages, with stops at a tofu workshop, a local market and family-run silk houses, guided by a Phnom Penh local.
4 hr 30 min · small group
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A market walk to pick fresh Cambodian ingredients followed by a hands-on class preparing dishes such as fish amok, under Chef Lom Ang at Banana Cooking Class.
4 hr · small group
A donation-based 3-hour walk through the city center's history, culture and night market with a local guide, ending with tips on where to eat and how to catch a river boat.
3 hr · small group
Cappuccino
Market Café Restaurant & Lounge · 4.8 · 175+ reviews
In the hotel · Lobby level
Daily 6:00am - 10:30am
Feel Good Café · 4.5 · 471+ reviews
Brown Coffee and Bakery · 4.4 · 20+ reviews
The Shop 102 · 3.9 · 17+ reviews
Restaurants Near Hotel
Kabbas Restaurant · 4.5 · 1012+ reviews
Asian & healthy — Khmer and pan-Asian plates with vegetarian options, near the Silver Pagoda.
Daily 11:00am - 9:00pm
Closed Thursday
Phnom Penh India · 4.6 · 498+ reviews
Indian — vegetarian and non-vegetarian North Indian curries on the Sisowath Quay riverfront.
Daily 7:00am - 9:00pm
Sombok Restaurant · 4.9 · 322+ reviews
Khmer fine dining — contemporary Cambodian gastronomy from chef Kimsan Pol, riverside.
Daily 6:30am - 10:00pm
Downtown Restaurants
Mealea Restaurant · 4.8 · 501+ reviews
International, European — fine dining in a restored colonial villa beside the Royal Palace's Street 240 gallery row.
Daily 6:30am - 11:00pm
Khéma Pasteur · 4.6 · 777+ reviews
French — bakery-bistro near Independence Monument, with a free-flow breakfast and weekend brunch.
Daily 6:30am - 10:30pm
Friends The Restaurant · 4.9 · 20+ reviews
International, Asian, Cambodian — tapas-style social-enterprise restaurant training young people in hospitality, opposite the National Museum.
Tuesday - Sunday 11:30am - 9:00pm
Closed Monday
David's Noodle · 4.4 · 1275+ reviews
Asian, Cambodian — handmade noodles on a lively lane behind Wat Ounalom, a short walk from the National Museum.
Daily 10:00am - 10:00pm
Dining Areas
Sisowath Quay
Local Tastes
Fish Amok
Cambodia's national dish — freshwater fish in a coconut-milk curry thickened with kroeung — lemongrass, galangal, turmeric — and steamed in a banana-leaf cup until it sets like a custard.
Kuy Teav
A breakfast noodle soup of rice vermicelli in a slow-simmered pork or beef bone broth, topped with sliced meat, herbs and bean sprouts — the everyday start to a Phnom Penh morning.
Food Delivery
GrabFood
Foreign number: not accepted. — GrabFood shares the Grab app's unreliable foreign-number SMS verification; register with a home-country number before arrival.
The widest restaurant selection in Phnom Penh, from street-food stalls to hotel-district fine dining, with live rider tracking and cashless in-app payment.
foodpanda
Foreign number: not accepted. — sign-up is built around a Cambodian mobile number, the same restriction foodpanda applies across its other Southeast Asian markets.
A Delivery Hero platform covering Phnom Penh's main dining districts, strong on chain restaurants and bubble-tea and dessert shops alongside local kitchens.
NHAM24
Foreign number: not accepted. — the Cambodian-founded super-app is built for the domestic mobile network and does not verify foreign numbers.
A homegrown Cambodian app bundling food delivery with groceries, flowers and courier drops; strongest for authentic Khmer kitchens that skip the international platforms.
Getting Around
Grab
Foreign number: not accepted. — the sign-up form takes a foreign number, but the SMS verification code frequently never arrives; register with a home-country number first.
Cambodia's most-used ride-hailing app, covering cars and tuk-tuks across Phnom Penh with in-app fare estimates and cashless payment; the same app also carries GrabFood deliveries.
PassApp
Foreign number: not accepted. — verification is built around Cambodian mobile numbers only; a local SIM card is required before registering.
Cambodia's homegrown ride app, strong for tuk-tuks and often with better coverage than Grab outside the Riverside and BKK1 core once a local SIM is in hand.
Train Stations Near Hotel
Phnom Penh Railway Station
Royal Railway's Phnom Penh–Poipet line — via Battambang — and Phnom Penh–Sihanoukville line — via Takeo, Kep and Kampot — both terminate here.
Day Trips by Train
Kampot · 3 hr 51 min
A laid-back riverside town of French colonial shophouses beneath the Bokor plateau, famous for its pepper plantations and slow sunsets over the Preaek Tuek Chhu river.
book at: Royal Railway or Omio
Battambang · 6 hr 20 min
Cambodia's best-preserved French colonial riverside town, a base for the hand-pushed bamboo train and hillside temple ruins on the northern Poipet line.
book at: Royal Railway or Omio
Sihanoukville · 6 hr 36 min
Cambodia's main beach gateway on the Gulf of Thailand, and the departure port for the white-sand islands of Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem.
book at: Royal Railway or Omio
Heads Up
Riverside & Markets — Drive-by Bag Snatching
Motorbike thieves grab phones and bags from pedestrians near Sisowath Quay and Central Market; carry bags on the shoulder away from the road.
Worth Knowing
A city built on a river that runs backwards
Phnom Penh sits at Chaktomuk, the four faces, where the Mekong, Bassac and Tonle Sap rivers cross in an X in front of the Royal Palace. For half the year the Tonle Sap drains south into the Mekong like any ordinary river — but each monsoon the swollen Mekong pushes back so hard it forces the Tonle Sap to reverse and flow north instead, refilling the Tonle Sap Lake and quadrupling its size before the cycle reverses again months later.
Prices around the city are quoted in US dollars, but change under a dollar comes back in Cambodian riel — a split system that dates to the Khmer Rouge years, when money was abolished outright between 1975 and 1979. The riel restarted from zero after 1980 and never fully displaced the dollar that flooded in with the UN transitional mission of the early 1990s; both currencies are still legal tender side by side today.
Nearly all of Cambodia's Buddhist monks and senior clergy were killed or forced to disrobe during the Khmer Rouge period, and the wats a visitor walks through today — including the ones on this itinerary — were rebuilt and re-staffed almost entirely after 1979, in a single generation, rather than continuously across the centuries their founding dates suggest.
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