Kampong Thom, Cambodia: travel guide
A working highway town midway between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and the base for Sambor Prei Kuk — the pre-Angkorian Chenla capital of Ishanapura, UNESCO-listed in 2017 and 24 km to the north-east.
- Country
- Cambodia
- Currency
- KHR
- Time zone
- Asia/Phnom_Penh
Top places to visit in Kampong Thom
Kampong Thom Market
Market · 4.1 rating · about 0.8 h
The town's covered market on NR6 — the reason half the buses between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap stop here, and the best place in the province for grilled river fish at 6 a.m.
Phnom Santuk
Temple · 4.2 rating · about 1.5 h
A sandstone hill 200 m above the plain, climbed by 980 steps past reclining Buddhas carved directly into the outcrops, with a working pagoda and a macaque troop at the top.
Kampong Thom Museum
Museum · 4.3 rating · about 1 h
A one-room provincial museum holding the Chenla-period sculpture lifted from Sambor Prei Kuk before the site was looted — worth twenty minutes before or after the temples.
Sambor Prei Kuk
Heritage · 4.6 rating · about 2.5 h · entry USD 10
The brick temple city of Ishanapura, capital of Chenla in the early 7th century and the ancestor of everything built at Angkor three hundred years later. Over a hundred sanctuaries stand in open forest. UNESCO-listed 2017.
Santuk Silk Farm
Cultural · 4.5 rating · about 1 h
A working mulberry-to-loom silk farm below Phnom Santuk where the whole chain — worms, reeling, dyeing, weaving — happens in one open shed, and the weavers will let you sit at the loom.
Prasat Chrei
Temple · 4.6 rating · about 0.5 h · entry USD 10
A brick sanctuary in the northern group at Sambor Prei Kuk, its base still carrying the medallion reliefs that give the Chenla style its name.
Independence Monument
Cultural · 4.3 rating · about 0.3 h
Kampong Thom's lotus-tower independence monument on the roundabout by the Stung Sen bridge, lit at night and the town's obvious orientation point.
Prasat Tao
Temple · 4.5 rating · about 0.8 h · entry USD 10
The Lion Temple, the central group's largest surviving sanctuary, guarded by a pair of sandstone lions on its eastern stair — the best-preserved single building at Sambor Prei Kuk.
Prasat Yeay Poan
Temple · 4.5 rating · about 0.8 h · entry USD 10
The southern group: an octagonal brick tower inside a double enclosure, its walls carved with the "flying palaces" — miniature aerial pavilions found almost nowhere else in Khmer art.
Prasat Andet
Temple · 5.0 rating · about 0.5 h
A single 7th-century brick tower on a low mound west of town — the find spot of the Harihara of Prasat Andet, one of the masterpieces of pre-Angkorian sculpture, now in the National Museum.
Where to stay in Kampong Thom
Hotels
- Sambor Village Hotel
- Seng Chheng Horn Guest House
- Kampong Thom Palace Hotel
- Vimean Sovann Guest House
- Pich Punloeu Thmei Guest House
- Sokchea Chantha Guest House
Getting around
- Walking
Every city has walking. 2.5 km ceiling is a placeholder default, not a researched per-city figure -- Singapore is sheltered and air-conditioned, Bangkok often has no pavement.
Best time to visit Kampong Thom
- May 35°C · MoWRAM/WMO WWIS 1982-2024 normal for May: 169.5 mm over 19 rain days (national station Kompong Thom (WMO WWIS city id 3644), 3.16 km from the stored city centre).
- Jun 34°C · MoWRAM/WMO WWIS 1982-2024 normal for June: 207.2 mm over 25 rain days (national station Kompong Thom (WMO WWIS city id 3644), 3.16 km from the stored city centre).
- Jul 33°C · MoWRAM/WMO WWIS 1982-2024 normal for July: 164.2 mm over 27 rain days (national station Kompong Thom (WMO WWIS city id 3644), 3.16 km from the stored city centre).
- Aug 31°C · MoWRAM/WMO WWIS 1982-2024 normal for August: 203.3 mm over 18 rain days (national station Kompong Thom (WMO WWIS city id 3644), 3.16 km from the stored city centre).
- Sep 32°C · MoWRAM/WMO WWIS 1982-2024 normal for September: 306.2 mm over 29 rain days (national station Kompong Thom (WMO WWIS city id 3644), 3.16 km from the stored city centre).
- Oct 32°C · MoWRAM/WMO WWIS 1982-2024 normal for October: 253.1 mm over 25 rain days (national station Kompong Thom (WMO WWIS city id 3644), 3.16 km from the stored city centre).