Kep and the Forgotten South Coast of Cambodia

Field notes

An hour and a half by road from Phnom Penh, Kep used to be Cambodia's answer to the French Riviera — King Sisowath built a palace here, and in the 1960s it filled with vacation villas. The Khmer Rouge wiped most of that out, and for decades Kep was a ghost town. Today it's quietly returning: a national park, a crab market that still pulls live crabs from the Gulf of Thailand, and a string of small boutique hotels that have figured out the formula of slow weekends on the coast.

Why go: Kep is the anti-Siem Reap. No entry tickets, no tour buses, no hawkers. You cycle to the national park, hike to a pagoda on the hill, eat fresh crab with Kampot pepper at the market, and finish the day at a beach bar watching the lights of Vietnamese Phu Quoc island flicker across the water.

How to get there: Shared taxis from Phnom Penh's Psar Thmei station, USD 8-10 one-way, 2.5 hours. Buses from Ho Chi Minh City run via the Moc Bai border crossing (about 6 hours, USD 15).

Practical notes: The crab market is at its best from late morning; the live ones are weighed and steamed in front of you. Bring a small flashlight for the beach at night — paths between properties are dark. Mobile data is decent in town but spotty at the national park entrance.