Phnom Penh is a beautiful and often overlooked capital city. Many travelers speak about it with mixed reviews, but for those that know the city, Phnom Penh is a place of hidden gems, and this guide to 24 hours in Phnom Penh will get you started. The only businesses that survive here are small, personable, and full of personality. They’re easily missed and wonderfully intimate, and are entirely reliant on word of mouth.
We use this knowledge when designing our Phnom Penh food and bar tours, and when guests ask for recommendations on what to eat, drink and do throughout their stay.
So, we’ve put together an itinerary for anyone with 24 hours in Phnom Penh. We left out the Genocide Museum and Royal Palace, and left it flexible enough to mix and match depending on your timeline and interests.
This is a crowd favorite for city residents. The food court area is surprisingly tourist-friendly, with menus featuring photos of food and clear prices. Of all markets in Phnom Penh, this one is the best at showcasing contemporary art by local artisans, from eggshell paintings and wood carvings to ornate metalwork sculptures and delicately intricate showstoppers from Silk Island itself. Bargaining here is expected and commonplace.
The market is open from 5 AM-5 PM but also features a boisterous night market starting up around sunset along its northern and eastern borders. The wide opening hours make this an easy must-do for anyone with 24 hours in Phnom Penh- just avoid noontime when it gets very hot inside, it’s not ventilated.
There are many ways to define “best” depending on your mood. We have some recommendations for local eats in our Phnom Penh Travel Guide. You can let us do the work and book our Phnom Penh Evening Food Tour to discover the best of Cambodian cuisine at four sit-down restaurants and one craft beer and cocktail bar while exploring the city by private tuktuk.
Just north of Titanic Restaurant along the riverside on the northern tip of the city, there’s a small jetty with boats for hire. They run $10-$20 USD per hour depending on the size of the boat, you can just show up and ask around for the best prices and see what’s available almost any day of the year. Find your boat here.
Most boats will have grills and large iceboxes available and the crew will facilitate buying ice or charcoal if you give them some extra time and a few dollars in cash. Bring drinks and dinner, and it’s a great way to end the day or start the night.
If you stay away from the touristy riverside and the sleazy girly bar area around street 136, Phnom Penh boasts a pretty awesome night-life scene. Full of live music, international DJs, and world-class mixologists, there’s a bit of everything for everyone here in the city, albeit in smaller more intimate settings than you may be used to. Honestly, we prefer it that way. Facebook is the ruling platform here for all event info, and a cursory search for local events today on the app or website should garner plenty of results. We also offer an amazing Hidden Bar Tour to help you discover the coolest bars and breweries in town.
Surprisingly this doesn’t come up enough. After a night on the town, catch a late brunch at The Shop 240, Java Cafe, or Lot 369 and get ready for a sight that will take your breath away. Oudong was the capital prior to Phnom Penh, which is a fairly recent city at less than 150 years old. If you want a sample of the ancient tradition here, Oudong is about an hour away, a trip buffered by picturesque countryside and scenic rice paddies! Oudong can be reached by boat, by tour groups, or hire a driver for the day through Grab or Camboticket.com
There you have it, a fairly flexible itinerary for 24 hours in Phnom Penh. When dealing with a city of hidden gems, you’ll be glad you did a little digging.
Cambodia’s rainy season, which spans from May to October, often raises concerns among travelers who worry about constant downpours disrupting their plans. But reality is quite different! Known as the “green season,” this period transforms Cambodia’s landscapes into lush, vibrant scenes that are truly breathtaking.
We love the cafe vibe in Cambodia, and throughout Phnom Penh’s bustling concrete jungle it’s quite easy to find a place to chill at one of the city’s coffee shops or cafes. Coffee has become a way of life for Cambodians, and it took us a long time to narrow down our list of favorites. The cafes here focus on espresso drinks, which leaves our coffee-snob Portland team sometimes wanting more, but make up for it with great vibes and endless menus full of fresh fruit smoothies and brunch.
The small yet rapidly growing micro-brew scene in Cambodia’s capital is what everyone in the West reminisces about. Passionate brewers setting up shop in their garage (or as close to a garage as you can have in Phnom Penh,) tinkering with local ingredients and brewing batches big enough to share at one or two bars. The result is some of the best beer you can find in Asia…and drinking it in some of the most intimate hidden gems that you’ll find anywhere.
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