10 Best Beaches in Cambodia

If someone asked me to name my favourite country in Southeast Asia, Cambodia would be right at the top of the list. I know that might surprise people, as most travellers sprint through on their way to Angkor Wat and leave thinking they've seen it all.  

But every single time I return, the place finds a new way to catch me off guard. Nowhere more so than along its coastline. Cambodia only has about 440 kilometres of coast, which makes it tiny compared to its neighbours, but what it lacks in length it more than makes up for in raw, unhurried beauty. 

While Thailand and Bali can feel thoroughly packaged at peak season, Cambodia's shoreline moves at its own pace - and the beaches here are world-class once you know where to find them. Here are my favorites.

If there's one island that still feels like Southeast Asia circa 2005, it's Koh Ta Kiev. A 20-minute boat ride from Sihanoukville's Otres Beach, this small, jungle-covered island has a handful of rustic eco-camps strung along its fringes and very little else in the way of development. 

The beaches (and there are several, each with a slightly different character) are fringed with leaning palm trees and backed by dense forest. Bioluminescent plankton light up the shallows after dark, which sounds like a travel cliché until you actually see it. 

My tip: stay overnight at one of the hammock camps. Day-trippers leave by mid-afternoon and the island transforms completely once it's just the overnighters left. Bring cash—there are no ATMs and generators go off early.

Sihanoukville itself has had a rough few years and the main beach strips are not what they once were. But Otres, a 20-minute tuk-tuk ride south of the centre, has held onto a mellow, low-key vibe that feels distinct from the chaos closer to town. 

It's split into two sections: Otres 1 is slightly more developed with good guesthouses and seafood restaurants; Otres 2, further along, is quieter still, with long stretches of sand that are nearly empty on weekday mornings. 

The water is warm and calm, the sunsets are spectacular, and the whole atmosphere is pretty unhurried. I've spent entire weeks here barely moving from a beach chair. 

My best tip: the seafood vendors who set up on the sand at dusk sell freshly grilled prawns and squid for a fraction of what you'd pay at a proper restaurant. Go around 6pm when they're just getting started.

Koh Rong is the most visited of Cambodia's islands and Long Set Beach, on the northwest coast, is one of the best reasons why. Reaching it requires either a long walk through jungle or a short boat transfer from the main village, but that slight effort keeps the atmosphere relaxed and the crowds manageable. 

The payoff is a four-kilometre sweep of powder-white sand and impossibly clear turquoise water that would look photoshopped if it weren't so obviously, overwhelmingly real. Snorkelling off the beach is excellent, with healthy coral and plenty of reef fish. 

My tip: the walk through the jungle from Koh Rong Village takes about 45 minutes and is well worth doing at least once - you'll pass through dense tropical forest and come out on the beach feeling like you've really earned it!

Koh Rong Sanloem is the quieter, more laid-back sibling of Koh Rong, and Lazy Beach—on the island's west coast—is its best-kept secret. Accessible only by boat, this sheltered cove is home to a small, well-run resort, but non-guests can visit as day-trippers and use the beach freely. 

The water here is the kind of blue that makes you forget what you were worried about. It's glassy, shallow, and warm enough to stay in for hours. Hammocks are strung between palms, fresh coconuts are cheap, and the pace of life is approximately zero. 

I've never once heard loud music here, which is rarer than it should be on Southeast Asian beaches. 

Tip: negotiate a private boat from M'Pay Bay pier on Koh Rong Sanloem—it's cheaper than most people expect and means you can set your own schedule.

Part of the Ream National Park, Koh Thmei is one of the least visited islands in Cambodia, which is exactly why I love it. There's a single small eco-resort on the island, and beyond that, almost nothing. 

The beaches are wild and undeveloped, the jungle interior is home to monitor lizards and rare birds, and the surrounding waters have coral reefs in genuinely good condition. Getting here requires a boat from Ream, and the journey itself is half the adventure—you pass through mangrove channels that feel a world away from the tourist trail. 

I went for a long weekend expecting to be bored and came back having had one of the most peaceful few days of my entire time travelling in Southeast Asia. 

Tip: bring everything you need with you: snacks, sunscreen, any medication. The eco-resort is lovely but supply runs don't happen daily.

Koh Prins is one of those places that rewards travellers willing to venture a little further off the main island-hopping circuit. This small island —technically part of a cluster that includes Koh Pos and Koh Totang—sits off the coast near Koh Kong and is accessible by organised day trips or via private boat hire. 

The beaches are raw and undeveloped, the snorkelling around the outer reefs is some of the best I've experienced in Cambodian waters, and the sheer remoteness of the place gives it a Robinson Crusoe quality that's increasingly hard to find in this part of the world. 

There are no permanent tourist facilities here, which means you need to bring absolutely everything, but that's also what makes it special. 

Tip: contact one of the tour operators in Koh Kong town rather than Sihanoukville for the best local knowledge and most direct access.

The main bay on Koh Rong Sanloem deserves its own entry entirely. Saracen Bay is a long, curved inlet lined with fine white sand and calm, protected water. It's one of the few places in Cambodia where you can swim comfortably at almost any time of year. 

A string of small guesthouses and beach bars line the shore, none of them particularly flashy, all of them doing exactly what a beach bar should do: serving cold drinks and fresh food to people who have nowhere else to be. 

In the evenings, the whole bay takes on a golden glow as the sun drops behind the treeline. I've recommended this place to a dozen friends over the years and every single one has messaged me afterwards to say thank you. 

Tip: the northern end of the bay, away from the main pier, is noticeably quieter and the snorkelling just off the rocks there is excellent.

The Koh Sdach archipelago, a cluster of small islands off the coast of Koh Kong province, is about as far from the well-worn tourist trail as Cambodia's coast gets. 

The main island, Koh Sdach, has a small fishing community and a couple of basic guesthouses, and from there you can arrange boat trips to the surrounding uninhabited islands, each with their own small beaches and healthy fringing reefs. 

The whole area has a time-warp quality: fishing boats, no high-rises, kids playing on the beach in the afternoon. I spent three nights here on a trip a few years ago and felt more at ease than almost anywhere else in Southeast Asia. 

Tip: the fishing community on Koh Sdach is welcoming but the island is not set up for tourism in any polished sense. Bring an adaptable attitude and basic Khmer pleasantries (they go a long way).

Kep is a different kind of Cambodian coastal experience—a former French colonial retreat that fell into elegant decay after the Khmer Rouge era and has never quite snapped back to full tourist life. 

The beach itself is small and not the white-sand fantasy of the islands, but that's almost irrelevant given the atmosphere. Kep is really about the crab market, the crumbling French villas being swallowed by jungle, the salt flats at nearby Kampot, and the extraordinary sunsets over the Gulf of Thailand and the silhouetted hills of Vietnam across the water. 

My tip: the small rocky promontory at the eastern end of the beach has a series of tide pools that are brilliant to explore at low tide. And if you're visiting between October and May, the pepper crabs cooked with local Kampot pepper are non-negotiable.

Back on Koh Rong for one final beach, because the island really does have enough coastline to fill a list of its own. Coconut Beach sits on the island's northeast shore and can only be reached by boat as there's no jungle path here. 

That inaccessibility keeps visitor numbers genuinely low, even in high season. The beach is small but perfectly formed: white sand, crystal water, a couple of hammocks strung between the palms, and the kind of quiet that feels almost audible. 

A tiny family-run operation sells drinks and simple food, and the whole thing feels wonderfully personal rather than touristy. I first came here by accident—a boatman took a wrong turn looking for a different beach—and I've been deliberately making the same wrong turn ever since. 

Tip: ask for Coconut Beach specifically when hiring a boat from Koh Rong Village. Not all drivers know it, but the ones who do will take you straight there.