Phnom Penh: Top Things to Do

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Phnom Penh’s real sightseeing list is short and honest about it: a royal complex, one excellent museum, a temple hill, two markets and a riverside. That’s a genuine two-to-three-day core, not padding. The city’s history sites sit apart from this list on purpose, covered further down with the gravity they need.

8 things worth doing in Phnom Penh

  1. Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda: an active royal residence, so parts close without notice for state functions. About $10, open in two sessions, roughly 7:30-11am and 2-5pm. The dress code is real: shoulders and knees covered, or you’re turned away at the gate.
  2. National Museum of Cambodia: a few minutes’ walk from the Palace, holding the world’s best collection of Khmer and Angkorian art in a red-brick building. About $10 adult, $5 youth, open daily 8am-5pm; no photography inside the galleries.
  3. Wat Phnom: the hilltop temple the city takes its name from, tied to a 1372 founding legend about a woman named Penh finding Buddha statues in the river. About $1, roughly 7am-6pm.
  4. Wat Ounalom: the seat of Cambodia’s Buddhist patriarch, riverside near the Palace, free or by donation. A quieter counterpoint to the Palace crowds.
  5. Central Market (Phsar Thmei): a bright-yellow Art Deco dome from 1937, worth seeing for the architecture even before you shop.
  6. Russian Market (Phsar Toul Tom Poung): denser and more bargain-friendly than Central Market, go early, around 8am, for souvenirs, silk and krama scarves.
  7. Independence Monument: a 1958 lotus-stupa design by architect Vann Molyvann, a quick photo stop between the riverside and the markets.
  8. Sisowath Quay and a sunset river cruise: the riverside promenade facing the Palace at the visible three-river confluence, with sunset cruises running about 5pm and a Friday-to-Sunday Night Market for food stalls after dark.

Understanding Phnom Penh’s Khmer Rouge history

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21) and Choeung Ek are Khmer Rouge genocide memorials, not another entry on a sightseeing list, and this guide treats them that way. From 17 April 1975 to early January 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 population, from execution, starvation, forced labor and disease.

Tuol Sleng, a former high school turned into the regime’s central prison, held an estimated 14,000 to 20,000 people, almost all killed; only around 12 are known to have survived. It’s open daily 8am-5pm, about $5 admission, and the $5 audio guide is worth the addition. Choeung Ek, about 15km south, is the best known of the killing fields; its memorial stupa holds more than 5,000 skulls, and it’s open daily 7:30am-5:30pm, about $6 including the audio guide. Most visitors give both sites one sober half-day, Tuol Sleng first, and don’t schedule anything upbeat immediately after. Book directly through the official Tuol Sleng site rather than an affiliate tour bundle. For the full context on both sites, see our dedicated Killing Fields and S-21 page .

What isn’t on this list

Angkor Wat isn’t a Phnom Penh sight, however many old guides list it that way. It’s in Siem Reap, about 300km and 5-6 hours away, and needs its own separate multi-day trip. Nothing in central Phnom Penh gets you a genuine look at Angkor in a single afternoon.

Getting between the sights

Tuk-tuks booked through PassApp or Grab are the practical way to move between these stops, since there’s no metro and the central core is only walkable-ish in the heat. For the fuller day-by-day plan, see our 2-day and 3-day itineraries, and our hidden gems list for what to add once you’ve covered this core.