Take a Walk Around The Kampot Lotus Pond
Located in town behind the museum is a large pond filled with Lotus flowers. The is such a quiet area and perfect for a walk without having to worry about traffic.
There is a shrine in the middle with a bridge you can walk over to take a closer look, or take a seat in the shade on one of the benches.
The pond is beautiful and I absolutely loved seeing so many lotus flowers, but it also was a real shame that there was so much rubbish (particularly plastic bottles) floating around.
Hotel Old Cinema
This hotel allows non-guests to use the facilities for a minimum spend of $6 per person. The service & pool area is amazing, but just quickly I’ll give you some history to understand the importance of this site.
The Old Cinema building is so interesting and dates back to the 1930s.
Originally built as a Chinese theatre showing Hong Kong Chinese Kung Fu films.
Unfortunately, during the Khmer Rouge regime, the cinema closed down but did reopen once the regime fell in 1979 and relaunched as the 7 Makara Cinema.
At some point, the cinema closed again and I was told the building then stood derelict for the next 20 years.
Thankfully it was eventually purchased by an ex-pat couple who spent 3 years restoring the site and creating Hotel Old Cinema. The hotel first opened at the end of 2019 and has 8 rooms, the rates start from $75.
Check out the latest rates at Booking.com
The property is in a great location, on Street 700 only a short walk from the Durian roundabout.
The hotel welcomes anyone to enjoy the pool, bar & restaurant, the $6 minimum spend can be put towards food & drinks.
This is such a good deal because there aren’t many places in Kampot where you can go that are this beautiful with a clean place to swim while escaping the mid-day heat!
This part of your itinerary will have you entering a little oasis in Kampot, that’s very luxurious & peaceful.
Bokor National Park
Kampot sits on the edge of Bokor National Park, immersing yourself in the natural beauty and exploring the new & old sites in the mountains is definitely something that should be on your Kampot itinerary.
From the city cross over Kampot’s old French bridge and follow the signs to the entrance of the national park, the ride will take about 30 minutes to the base of the mountain and the park is free to enter.
The ride up in awesome, paved, windy roads, all while being surrounded by thick lush jungle. Be sure to keep an eye out for wildlife such as Monkeys & Hornbills.
We, unfortunately, saw multiple times cars stopping to feed the monkeys. Please don’t do this! All it does is encourage wild animals to rely on humans for food, and spend time close to the road, increasing their chances of being hit.
It’s recommended to start travelling to Bokor no later than 6 am, roads will get busier throughout the day (speeding motorbikes, buses & cars cutting corners is a regular occurrence), plus when the afternoon fog rolls in the visibility will get very low.
But even following local advice the weather can still be unpredictable. The day we went the weather was awful and it continued to get worse the higher we road.
To escape the rain we decided to make our first stop at the Thansur Sokha Hotel & Casino. Somehow managing to follow the map in the rain and when approaching the hotel there was so much fog we literally couldn’t see this massive building until we were meters away. I felt like I was in The Shining and Jack Nicolson was going to come running out with an axe. 😆
Either way, Bokor Mountain is still an interesting place to explore while in Kampot.
These are the best things to see while in Bokor National Park that should be added to your Kampot itinerary!
….and many of these sites are now abandoned, so the fog ended up adding to the mysterious ghost town vibe;
Old Catholic Church
Popokvil Waterfall
Wat Sampov Pram
Bokor Hill Station
Lok Yeay Mao Monument
Tada Waterfalls Kampot
Tada Waterfalls is a part of Tada Island Natural Resort and I’d recommend hiring a scooter for this day trip. From Kampot city to Tada falls it’ll take about 45 minutes.
Upon entry to Tada, a guard will stop you and collect the entry fee, which is only $1 per person.
There’s a massive amount of parking in front of a row of local stores selling food, souvenirs and anything they believe you may need for a day of swimming.
The main attractions at Tada Island Natural Resort are the two large man-made pools and a waterfall that you can jump off the top of. Plus heaps of hammocks and undercover lounge areas are available for hire.
Although, before getting too comfortable make sure you take the trek 720 m up the steep steps to Tada Roung Chan Waterfall. On a rainy day, this walk wasn’t ideal as the walkway was very slippery & muddy, but we managed to make it to the top and the rain just meant we had the area to ourselves.
The view from this waterfall was stunning and being so high up you can see how much thick green jungle surrounds the resort.
Tada Island is very popular with local Cambodians so this area will be particularly busy on public holidays.
But, there is a big BUT with Tada! Some idiots thought that the waterfalls and natural beauty of this area weren’t enough, and decided to bring in multiple wild animals and display them in tiny enclosures. I wouldn’t even say enclosures they were just square cages, absolutely horrible. Lions, Monkeys, Birds, all looking miserable!
Tada Island Natural Resort offers plenty for locals and tourists to have an amazing day there is no need to display these poor trapped animals.
Kampot Salt Fields
So I had seen so many beautiful images of the Salt Fields in Kampot of the locals during harvest so I straight away added this to our Kampot itinerary, hoping to get similar shots.
Although I didn’t do a whole lot of research and just drove the 15 minutes from Kampot city out to the salt fields.
But the salt harvest is from January to March when the weather is dry! I was there during a very rainy May and when there’s been a lot of rain the saltwater in the fields doesn’t have enough time to evaporate.
Oops.
It was still a nice ride out to the fields, the scenery is beautiful and the sky reflecting on the salt fields was pretty.
But I would only add the Salt Fields to your Kampot itinerary if you’re visiting in the months of harvest.
Day Trip to Kep
Often when people are planning a trip to Southern Cambodia the question they as is; what town is better, Kampot or Kep?
I stayed in both areas and each offered a laid-back feel while being surrounded by lush jungle scenery. There are definitely more things to do in Kampot but on the other hand, Kep has the beach!
If you aren’t able to spend a night there, you could absolutely do Kep as a day trip from Kampot.
Kampot to Kep is an easy 30 minutes drive and hiring a tuk-tuk to take you there should cost between 10-15US one way.
Some of the best things to do in Kep are;
For seafood lovers, visit the Kep crab market and try the famous fried Kep Crab with local pepper. Although, due to overfishing the size of these crabs is getting increasingly smaller.
Kep Beach; hire a sun bed or hammock and enjoy a local .75cent beer.
Kep National Park; The fee to enter the national park is $1 and the entrance is an easy walk from Kep beach. Inside the park is an 8km trail and also a hillside cafe called Led Zep.
The park is known for having a large number of monkeys and a variety of different birds including one of my favourites, the Great Hornbill, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.
If you find yourself on the hillside in the late afternoon, the sunsets in Kep are beautiful. Plus on any clear day, you will be able to see Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam.
The wifi & telecommunications signals in Kep are very weak. This become a problem when we were trying to pay a bill by card, so I suggest ensuring you have cash on hand.