Cambodia · Preah Sihanouk
Where to Stay in Sihanoukville, Preah Sihanouk
Sihanoukville is a city of southern Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand, the country's main seaport and beach resort, the setting-off point for the islands of Koh Rong.
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Where to stay in Sihanoukville
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Where you stay in Sihanoukville turns on the beaches or the town. The streets above the shore keep the market, the bars, and the sands within a walk, and staying by the beach suits anyone here for the coast. The warm gulf lies below.
Palms shade the sandy bays. Out toward the port and the islands, the town gives way to the harbour, the boat piers, and the ferries to Koh Rong. A room by the water trades the town for the island boats, the quiet coves, and the wide blue gulf.
The islands lie out in the sea. Stay by the beach for the sand, or by the pier for the islands. The sea and the islands ring the town.
About Sihanoukville
Sihanoukville is the beach and port city of Cambodia.
What is Sihanoukville known for?
On a headland of the Gulf of Thailand in the south, it grew from a fishing coast into the nation's deep-water port and seaside resort, and it keeps the long sandy beaches below the town, the busy harbour that is Cambodia's window on the sea, the white-sand islands of Koh Rong offshore, and the mangrove coast of Ream National Park nearby. The gulf lies warm and blue. Beaches curve along the bays.
What are the main landmarks in Sihanoukville?
The beaches are the pride of Sihanoukville. The long strands of white sand below the town, backed by palms and looking out on the warm gulf, draw the crowds to the coast, the emblem of the city, downtown. Islands lie offshore in the blue.
The white-sand isles of Koh Rong rise from the gulf a short sail out, while the great port, the hilltop pagoda, and the Ream mangroves mark the country around Sihanoukville.
What is the history of Sihanoukville?
Sihanoukville was built to give Cambodia the sea. In the nineteen-fifties the young kingdom, cut off from the great river ports, carved a deep-water harbour out of the coast and named it for King Sihanouk. A new port town rose on the shore.
Roads and a railway were driven through the hills to the sea, and Sihanoukville grew as Cambodia's window on the ocean, its only great port. The beaches drew the travelers. When peace returned, backpackers and then holidaymakers came for the white sand and the islands, and Sihanoukville grew into the beach capital of Cambodia.
The port grew busy with trade. Ships crowded the harbour with the country's goods, new towers rose fast along the shore, and Sihanoukville became a booming port and resort on the gulf, keeping its beaches, its islands, and its harbour. The boats still leave for Koh Rong.
Sihanoukville keeps its coast and its port on the Gulf of Thailand.
Where is Sihanoukville?
Sihanoukville lies in the south of Cambodia, on a low headland of the Gulf of Thailand. The city sits on green hills above a coast of sandy bays and rocky points, facing the warm gulf, with islands scattered offshore and the mangroves of Ream stretching along the shore to the east. The warm sea runs clear and shallow.
Green hills back the beaches.
What is the climate of Sihanoukville?
The coast at Sihanoukville is tropical, hot and wet. Warm humid weather holds all year on the coast, with a rainy monsoon in summer and a warm dry season by the gulf. The dry season draws the crowds.
Monsoon rains sweep the coast.
How do you get to Sihanoukville?
Sihanoukville lies on the south coast of Cambodia, at the end of the road from Phnom Penh. The highway and railway run down to it through the hills from the capital, and boats sail out to the islands of the gulf. Planes land by the coast.
Phnom Penh lies northeast up the road.
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Updated August 2026