Phnom Penh: 9 Things Actually Worth Doing

Phnom Penh is Cambodia’s capital, sitting at the Chaktomuk confluence where the Mekong, Tonle Sap and Bassac rivers meet, and most travelers give it two to three days on a wider Cambodia trip that also takes in Siem Reap and the south coast. That’s honestly enough: the marquee sights cluster close together, the food is some of the cheapest and best in Southeast Asia, and the city carries the weight of recent history openly rather than hiding it. Here’s what’s actually worth your time, what the memorial sites deserve, and what first-timers get wrong.

Phnom Penh at a glance

Days needed Best months Daily budget (mid-range) One thing to sort before you land
2-3 days for the core November-February ~$30-50/day File the Cambodia e-Arrival Card within 7 days of arrival, it’s mandatory for every air arrival

9 things worth doing in Phnom Penh

  1. Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda: the working royal residence (parts stay off-limits) and the pagoda’s namesake silver-tiled floor. Entry runs about $10, split across a morning and an afternoon session, and the dress code is stricter than Bangkok’s: shoulders and knees covered or you’re turned away at the gate, no exceptions. No photos inside the Throne Hall or the Silver Pagoda itself.
  2. National Museum of Cambodia: a red-brick 1917-20 building a few minutes’ walk from the Palace, holding the world’s best collection of Khmer and Angkorian art. About $10 adult, $5 for youth, no photos in the galleries. Worth doing before Angkor Wat if that’s later on your trip, not after.
  3. Wat Phnom: the temple-topped hill that gives the city its name, tied to the 1372 legend of Lady Penh. $1 entry, open roughly 7am-6pm, and a genuinely peaceful stop rather than a photo-op detour.
  4. Wat Ounalom: Cambodia’s Buddhist headquarters, said to enshrine a Buddha eyebrow-hair relic. Free or by donation, riverside near the Palace, and a quiet counterpoint to the busier sights on this list.
  5. Central Market (Phsar Thmei): an Art Deco market built in 1937, its bright-yellow 26-metre dome visible for blocks. Come for the building as much as the shopping.
  6. Russian Market (Phsar Tuol Tom Poung): denser, less polished, and the better spot for souvenirs, silk and krama scarves. Go early, around 8am, before the heat sets in, and bargain, it’s expected.
  7. Independence Monument: Vann Molyvann’s 1958 lotus-shaped stupa marking the end of French rule. A five-minute photo stop, not a destination in itself.
  8. Sisowath Quay and the riverside: the promenade facing the Palace at the visible river confluence, best walked at sunset. A river cruise (roughly 1-1.5 hours, departing around 5pm) is worth it if you want the confluence from the water rather than the bank.
  9. The Night Market, Friday to Sunday: food stalls and mats spread along the riverside for a cheap, sociable dinner. Pair it with a meal at Friends (215 Street 13) or Romdeng, the two social-enterprise restaurants training at-risk youth, and about the only restaurant names worth naming specifically here.

Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek: the Khmer Rouge memorial sites

These aren’t attractions in the usual sense, and this guide won’t frame them as one. Between 1975 and early 1979, the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot ran Democratic Kampuchea, and an estimated 1.7 to 2.2 million people died, roughly a quarter of the country’s population, through execution, starvation and forced labor. That history is why Phnom Penh has two of the most visited sites in the country, and it deserves your full attention, not a slot squeezed between markets.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21) was a high school the Khmer Rouge converted into their central prison and interrogation center. An estimated 14,000 to 20,000 people were held here; almost all were killed, and only around a dozen survivors are known. It opened as a museum in 1980 and preserves the cells, shackles and thousands of prisoner photographs largely as they were found. Entry is about $5, plus $5 for an audio guide covering 11 languages that’s genuinely worth the extra cost, 8am-5pm daily. Confirm current details at the official Tuol Sleng site .

Choeung Ek sits about 15km south of the city, 30-45 minutes by tuk-tuk, and is the best known of the country’s killing fields, the execution and burial site for S-21 prisoners. The memorial stupa holds more than 5,000 skulls; of 129 mass graves on the site, many remain unexcavated out of respect, and bone fragments still surface seasonally, collected daily by staff. Entry, including an audio guide, is about $6, 7:30am-5:30pm daily.

Visit in that order, Tuol Sleng first, then Choeung Ek, the same order the events happened in. Most people combine both into one sober half-day and don’t plan anything cheerful immediately after.

Where to eat in Phnom Penh

Beyond Friends and Romdeng, eat by dish rather than by restaurant name. Fish amok (amok trey), coconut fish curry steamed in a banana leaf, is the national dish; lok lak is peppery stir-fried beef with a lime-pepper dip; kuy teav, a rice-noodle soup, is the default breakfast, alongside bai sach chrouk, grilled pork over rice, sold at stalls mostly until around 10am. Nom banh chok, cold rice vermicelli under a green fish curry, is the other dish Cambodians will tell you is the real national one. If you buy Kampot pepper to take home, look for the EU-protected certification, it’s grown two hours south and is genuinely one of the best peppers anywhere.

Where to stay in Phnom Penh

Riverside and Daun Penh put you within walking distance of the Palace and the core sights; the historic Raffles Hotel Le Royal anchors this area if you want a splurge. BKK1 (Boeung Keng Kang 1) is the expat cafe-and-nightlife hub, with Rosewood Phnom Penh occupying the top floors of Vattanac Capital Tower for skyline views. Tonle Bassac is quieter and closer to Aeon Mall. Cambodia is cheap across the board, so budget-to-luxury all cluster within these same neighborhoods rather than one area dictating where you should stay. Check current Phnom Penh hotel rates before you commit.

Getting there and around

Fly into Techo International Airport (KTI), about 25-30km south of the city, which opened 9 September 2025 and replaced the old Phnom Penh International; the old airport is fully closed. Budget 45-75 minutes for the transfer into town. Most nationalities need either an e-visa (about $36 total) or a visa on arrival (about $30), plus a passport valid at least 6 months, and separately, the Cambodia e-Arrival Card is mandatory for every air arrival since January 2025, filed within 7 days before you land. Do this before you fly, not at the gate.

Inside the city, tuk-tuks and motodops handle everything; there’s no metro. App-based PassApp or Grab avoid the haggling that comes with flagging one down, and the riverside and central core are walkable between sights. Buses connect onward to Siem Reap (5-6 hours), Kampot (2.5-4 hours) and Sihanoukville.

Money in Phnom Penh

The US dollar is used everywhere, for everything, and Cambodian riel (about 4,000 to the dollar) mostly shows up as small change under a dollar. ATMs dispense USD but charge $4-6 per withdrawal. Bring crisp bills: Cambodia refuses torn, marked or pre-2006 US notes outright, so clean $10s and $20s save you an argument. Tipping around 5-10% is appreciated, not required. Overall, Phnom Penh is cheap, this isn’t a budget-stress destination.

Staying safe in Phnom Penh

Cambodia sits at US Level 2, “increased caution,” and the only do-not-travel zone, the Thailand border about 400km away, doesn’t touch Phnom Penh itself. In the city, the real everyday risk is motorbike bag and phone snatching along the riverfront and in BKK1: hold bags on the side away from the road, don’t use your phone near passing traffic, and don’t resist if someone grabs something, it’s not worth a fall onto asphalt. Agree tuk-tuk fares before you get in, and watch for gem scams and the fake-monk donation approach, plus drink-spiking reports around Street 51 and Pontoon late at night. Tap water isn’t potable, stick to bottled, and dengue is a real rainy-season risk from day-biting mosquitoes, so use repellent even in daylight.

When to visit Phnom Penh

Dry season, November through February, is the best window and the coolest the city gets. March through May is brutally hot, 38-40°C or higher, and September-October is the wettest stretch of the monsoon. If your dates line up, the Water Festival (Bon Om Touk), roughly 23-26 November 2026, turns the riverside into the city’s biggest event of the year, book accommodation well ahead if you’re timing a visit around it.

How many days do you need in Phnom Penh?

Two days genuinely covers the core: the Palace, the National Museum, Wat Phnom and the riverside on one day, the memorial sites and Russian Market on the other. A third day adds Central Market, Wat Ounalom, Independence Monument and a sunset cruise. Past that, the honest move is a day trip, Koh Dach’s silk villages or the hilltop stupas at Oudong, rather than inventing more marquee city sights that don’t exist. For the full breakdown, see our 2-day , 3-day and longer Phnom Penh itineraries , and our Phnom Penh overview for the bigger picture on whether it fits your trip.

Whatever else you cut, don’t cut the half-day at Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek: it’s the part of Phnom Penh that explains everything else about the city, and skipping it because it’s heavy is the one real mistake first-timers make here.