Things to do
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Bokor Hill Station
French administrators built a hill retreat on the Bokor plateau in the 1920s, abandoned twice since and now reached by a smooth switchback road that climbs above a thousand metres. The shell of the old casino, a small church and the Black Palace remain, sharing the plateau with new resort building and a giant Lok Yeay Mao statue. Cloud sits on the top for much of the wet season.
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Kampot Old Market
Riverfront shophouses restored in ochre and cream hold the town's cafes and guesthouses, with the produce market trading behind them from before dawn. Durian, crab from Kep and green peppercorn still on the stem turn up in the same aisles. The building itself is modest, and the interest is in the streets that frame it.
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Kampot Pepper Farms
Vines trained on wooden poles grow the peppercorn that carried Kampot's name into French kitchens, replanted since the 1990s after the plantations were destroyed. Farms east of town toward Kep run short tours through the drying sheds, with tasting of red, black and white grades. Harvest runs roughly February to May, and visits are calmer outside the middle of the day.
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Kep National Park
Above the old seaside resort of Kep, a loop track of about eight kilometres circles a forested hill through secondary jungle, with viewpoints toward Rabbit Island and the Vietnamese border. Macaques, hornbills and butterflies are common, the gradient is gentle and the surface is dirt. Two hours covers the circuit, best walked early before the heat settles in.
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Phnom Chhngok Cave Temple
Inside a limestone outcrop in the rice fields north of the river, a brick shrine of the pre-Angkorian period stands under a natural chimney, blackened where water and bats have worked the rock. Village children guide visitors through a low passage to a second exit. Entry is ticketed at the base of the steps, and the climb is short.