Sihanoukville – Cambodia’s largest beach town.
Sihanoukville is on Cambodia’s southern coast which hosts Cambodias only SeaPort on the gulf of Thailand. Founded relatively recently in 1964 specifically for the deep water port. Now popular as a tourist destination because of its many beaches and tropical weather.
Named after Cambodia’s retired king, Norodom Sihanouk, Sihanoukville has developed as a premier attraction for tourists visiting Cambodia, as well as residents looking for a holiday. This was stifled in 1994 when three western backpackers were kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge, and later murders. Sihanoukville has since recovered and now entertains almost 1,000,000 tourists every year.
Sihanoukville also supports an international airport with a troubled history – following a crash in the Cardamom Mountains in 2007 the airport remains ready for service but no flights are scheduled. The plan was for the airport to encourage visitors to other major attractions like the Angkor temples in Siem Reap, to enjoy a beach vacation on Cambodia’s southern coast.
The commercial deep water sea port is located on Sihanoukville’s northern peninsula, with a number of tropical islands and beaches to the west and south. The other beaches lie on the western and southern edges of the peninsula.
The most popular beach in Sihanoukville is Occheuteal beach which is lined with casuarina trees, sporting many grass roofed huts with lazy chairs which offer cold drinks and refreshments. The northern tip of Occheuteal beach, which naturally part of the same beach, has been dubbed serendipity beach where you can find many of the same grass roofed huts, as well as backpacker accommodations and some mid-range bungalows.
The Southern end of Occheuteal beach is mainly deserted, awaiting the development of a large resort, the progress of which has been very slow following the failed attempt to build a golf course on this land. Around the headland on the Southern end of Occheuteal beach is a similar and primarily deserted Otres beach – While formerly devoid of visitors, Otres beach is now home to some backpacker accommodations and is being touted as a location for adventure sports including sailing and paragliding.
The premier beach in Sihanoukville is the privately owned Sokha beach, a beautiful stretch of well maintained beach belonging to the Sokha Hotel chain which belongs to Cambodian oil mogul Kem Sokha. Non-Guests may be disappointed if they would like to visit Sokha Beach as the hotel guards may deny access however visitors could park in the hotel car park and walk to the beach unnoticed.