Sihanoukville and the Islands: Cambodia's South Coast

Koh Rong is the larger, more developed of the two main islands, with a beach strip near the pier town of Koh Touch built up around backpacker bars and budget bungalows, while its far northern and eastern beaches — considerably harder to reach, some only by boat — stay genuinely quiet and undeveloped. Koh Rong Sanloem, the smaller island to its south, runs quieter throughout: Saracen Bay on its east side holds most of its resort development, while the west coast's beaches see very few visitors at all. Both islands share the coast's best-known after-dark attraction, bioluminescent plankton that lights up blue-green in the shallows when disturbed on a dark, moonless night — swimming or wading well away from artificial light gives the clearest view.

Sihanoukville town's own character has shifted substantially: a wave of casino and real-estate development through the mid-to-late 2010s reshaped much of its skyline, and when construction on many projects stalled afterward, the town was left with a considerable amount of unfinished building alongside the older beach-town core. Most independent travellers today treat it mainly as a transit point to the ferry pier rather than a place to base themselves. Otres Beach, a short drive along the coast, has become the preferred alternative: a calmer, lower-key stretch of sand with its own small strip of guesthouses, beach bars and restaurants, distinct enough from the town centre to feel like a separate destination.

Ream National Park, close to Sihanoukville's airport, protects a stretch of mangrove forest, a quiet beach and a small offshore island, and makes an easy half-day or full-day trip for visitors not island-hopping — boat trips through the mangrove channels are the main activity, along with birdwatching and the beach itself, which sees only a fraction of the visitor numbers the main islands and Otres attract.