Sihanoukville Beaches

Sihanoukville Beaches

Several Asian countries have beaches bordering the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand south of Pattaya Beach. A rather untouched piece of nature until now which has mainly to do because of the long time war in the country which was also fueled from China and some mad communists.

Sihanoukville City (Krong) and beach

This is a rather sleepy coastal town around 230 km southwest of Phnom Penh and it has no past it was just placed on a cleared piece of jungle at the south China Sea in the 1950 ties to build Cambodia's only deep water port. Now Sihanoukville has a bright future since the Chinese tourist are coming in large quantities and the 5 major beaches are the best developed in Cambodia but there are still plenty of dirt roads around. This are the best beaches around:  Ochheuteal Beach  is the busiest waterfront day and night adjacent is Serendipity Beach which Is more or less an extension to the west of Ochheuteal without a larger sand strip there are some boulder fields around.

Sokha Beach is probably the best

The waterfront of Sokha Beach in a small long bay and seems to be a private one a real pretty spot at Cambodia's South China Sea. 

The place is probably the best on the South China Sea in the south of the country. The Sokha Beach Resort it at the booking icon above right has amazing similarities to the former Regent Hotel in Cha Am southeast of Bangkok. To the east lies Otres Beach   

Here you will find some useful information on this beach city in Cambodia which is no so easy to reach because of the roads which are not good at all. At the west end of the beachfront is the harbor in between guesthouses and hotels they are along the entire Sihanoukville waterfront.

Trips from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat should be on every agenda of a Cambodian travel trip. Also a outdoor trip to the nearby Bokor National Park is a great experience.Beside of outdoor tours dirt biking is popular actually in Khmer country it's everyday normality anyway.

Sihanoukville hotels guest houses and beach resorts

Except for the Sokha beach resort, Sihanoukville is not as top as some hotels in Angkor Wat or rather Siem Reap. The main reason to visit Sihanoukville is probably to have a great time at the beaches around and visiting the islands in front of the South China Sea cost.

The islands and coastal beaches are not as developed as lets say Patong beach at Phuket and other beaches in Thailand but this is probably nothing negative, rather positive. Great waterfronts are at Paradise Beach plus the Victoria and Independence Waterfront. Other are Hawaii and Ochheuteal beach with the best nightlife in town. To the east is Otres beach. If you rather want it hot try Phnom Penh nightlife.

There are no major Khmer temples and monuments around

For monuments it needs to travel to Angkor best via Phnom Penh with the bus. Sihanoukville has one top resort at Sokha Beach with about a kilometer long sandy strip in front. That’s for the high end, if you are a low end traveler have everything as well hotel and guest house with good rooms including air-condition hot water refrigerator and Cable TV are available for $20 a night upwards below that price without the amenities and facilities indicated above longer stay is negotiable.

Since the visa parameter are much more tourist friendly than in Thailand, long stay is no problem this is especially attractive to retired people. The city is also somehow paradise for backpacker since prices are quite low the whole situation is somehow similar to Spain and Canary Islands around 40 years ago. Since they don’t have all this restrictions on foreigners like in Thailand it’s easy to open a business and restaurant or maybe a hotel by foreigners.

Actually already now are many western owned tourist related businesses which draw plenty of travelers in because cheating level in the private sector is low compared to Thailand but with government related subjects it’s around three times more than in neighboring Thailand.

Sihanoukville Casinos

Sihanoukville down town has a central position and many casinos currently (2018) many more are built on this small peninsular because ir makes it easy to reach every location quick especially Sihanouk beaches since the street to the waterfront via wide boulevards.

When the beach area is reached often the last part of the road is a real bad dirt road. Plenty of lower priced hotels and guesthouses are around, shopping centers plus the usual infrastructure such as banks bars and restaurants are also in the downtown area actually this area is not very large with a motorbike taxi every location can be reached within a couple of minutes.

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