Tourist information about Cambodia

Cambodia is a country of the most ancient civilization, which has recently survived the horrors of genocide and violence. Today it is one of the most promising tourist regions of Southeast Asia, attracting tourists from all over the world. Tens of thousands of travelers choose tours to Cambodia to get acquainted with the unique historical and cultural monuments of this ancient country.

Excursions to Cambodia, which were previously just an addition to tours to Thailand and Vietnam, today have become available as independent tourist destinations. Unfortunately, due to the lack of direct flights from Russia to Cambodia, this direction is not actively developing. But those who did get there do not regret it at all, but only regret that they spent too little time exploring this wonderful country.

If earlier Russian tourists visited places, mostly Siem Reap with Angkor, and sometimes Phnom Penh, which are a purely excursion program, now Cambodia also offers a beach holiday combined with entertainment – tourist resort Sihanoukville. Tourists who have been there predict that he will be the second in the future Pattaya. And there are all the prerequisites for this: hotels that meet international standards, a huge number of ancient monuments and attractions, and most importantly, the country is still intact, not spoiled by crowds of Western tourists.

General information

Kingdom of Cambodia - (French. Cambodia, Khmer. Kampuchea (English Cambodia) is a state in Southeast Asia in the south of the Indochina peninsula, with the capital Phnom Penh. The area of 181 thousand square kilometers borders Thailand in the west, Vietnam in the east and Laos in the north.

State structure: constitutional monarchy, the head of state is the king. The legislative body is a bicameral Parliament (National Assembly and Senate).

The main tourist places: Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville.

The population. The total population of Cambodia is 14,805,000 (2009); over 80% are Khmers (Cambodians), living mainly in the central lowland of Cambodia. In the cities, in the Mekong River valley and around Tonle Sap Lake, Vietnamese, Chinese, as well as Chams and Malays live; in the northeast - mountain Khmers: kui, Mnongs, Stiengs; in the east - Lao, as well as about 3 thousand French (in cities).

Language. The official language is Khmer (Cambodian). In the last 5 years, the popularity of the English language has greatly increased in Cambodia. They are tolerably proficient in almost every official institution in Cambodia, hotel, restaurant, market. Foreigners are invited to fill out almost all official registration and other forms for tourism in Cambodia in English.

Religion. Under the regime of the "Khmer Rouge&Religion was banned in Cambodia. Currently, according to the Constitution, Theraveda Buddhism (small chariot) is considered the state religion in Cambodia.. The Khmers and most of the mountain Khmers profess Buddhism (part of the mountain Khmers retains ancient traditional beliefs); the Chinese - Confucianism and Buddhism (northern branches); the Chams and Malays - Sunni Islam, the French and part of the Vietnamese - Catholicism.

Official holidays and weekends in Cambodia. January 1 is the New Year. January 7 is the Day of Victory over the Genocide regime. March 8 is International Women's Day. February - mid-April - Chnam-Tmai or Chaul-Chnam, the New Year according to the Cambodian calendar. May 1 is Labor Day. Mid-May is the birthday of the Buddha (Visaka-Buchea). June 1 is Children's Day. June 18 is the Queen's birthday. September 24 is Constitution Day. The beginning of October is Pchum-Ben (Ancestors' Day). October 23 is the day of the Paris Peace Agreement. October 30 - November 1 is the King's birthday. November 9 is Independence Day. December 10 is Human Rights Day.

The monetary unit of Cambodia - Riel.

Important information about the history of the country

In the history of Cambodia of the 20th century, very tragic events took place, which, unfortunately, sometimes even tourists arriving there do not know about. For some of them, Cambodia is just an Asian exotic country with a huge number of beautiful temples and oriental identity.

Our opinion is that it is ignorant to come to the country without knowing about very recent events that simply turned the life of the state upside down, crossed out the life of an entire generation. Imagine that foreigners have come to visit you who have no idea about the Great Patriotic War. So, if you don't want to be an ignorant tourist, read a summary of the tragic events in the history of Cambodia in the second half of the 20th century.:

Like many bloody periods in history, this story began with the intervention of Europe and continued not without the participation of the United States, although it cannot be said that their participation was the direct cause of the tragic events that took place. In 1863, France imposed a protectorate treaty on the Kingdom of Cambodia (the official name of the country in 1863-1976), which was replaced in 1884 by a treaty that actually turned it into a colony of France. From 1942 to 1945 Cambodia was occupied by Japan.

In 1951, the People's Revolutionary Party of Cambodia (NRCP) was formed, whose goal was to liberate the country from the protectorate of France. The rise of the liberation struggle eventually forced France to withdraw its administration and troops from the country in 1953.

From the late 1960s to 1975, there was a civil war in the country, in which North Vietnam, South Vietnam and the USA actively intervened. It was during this period, in 1968, that the Khmer Rouge movement appeared, which became one of the parties to the civil war. The number of the movement at that time was about 30 thousand people, and was replenished mainly by 12-15-year-olds.

In 1970, a military coup took place, as a result of which General Lon Nol came to power and proclaimed the creation of the Khmer Republic. At the same time, the armed forces of the United States and South Vietnam again actively intervened in the life of the country to support the fighting against the Khmer Rouge.

By that time, the Khmer Rouge enjoyed the support of the population because they proclaimed social justice, demanded the expulsion of foreigners, and also allegedly advocated the restoration of the monarchy.

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, seized the capital of the country, the city of Phnom Penh, and thereby came to power. From that moment on, the country was imposed a course towards building "agrarian socialism". The Khmer Rouge established a dictatorship and announced the beginning of a "revolutionary experiment" to build a "one hundred percent communist society" in Cambodia.

In 1976 Cambodia was renamed Democratic Kampuchea. At the first stage, the eviction of urban residents to rural areas, the liquidation of commodity-money relations, the persecution of Buddhist monks and the complete prohibition of religion, the physical destruction of officials and military personnel of the former regime at all levels took place.

Higher forms of cooperatives were created all over the country, in which people driven out of cities in the most difficult conditions were engaged in low-skilled physical labor, reviving the Cambodian economy destroyed during the war.

In the conditions of Cambodia, a specific form of communism was created, based on the ideas of Pol Pot. Money, foreign languages, foreign books were banned. Village communes were created all over the country from the poor and middle peasantry; townspeople were taken out of the cities and placed in communes in order to "evacuate from the American offensive". For criminal offenses, execution was threatened (the number of "crimes" even included such as a banana torn from a commune tree, a rice crop harvested from a field bypassing the commune, etc.), restrictions and repressions were practiced on national and social parameters (ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese, individual Cham peoples, former representatives of the ruling classes emigrated from the country classes and even those with higher education; most of the students, teachers, Buddhist monks). Teachers, doctors, priests were shot. It was forbidden to write and read. They were shot for wearing glasses. Of those sent to one of the prisons – Tuol Sleng (now the Genocide Museum), only twelve are known to have survived. A specific vocabulary resembling newspeak was introduced, literary words, up to words like "mother" or "father", were replaced by dialectal ones, standard forms of politeness for Southeast Asian languages were abolished. "Democratic Kampuchea" was almost completely isolated from the outside world, diplomatic contacts were maintained only with China, Albania and North Korea. The names and portraits of the country's leaders (Pol Pot – Brother No. 1, Nuon Chea - Brother No. 2, Ieng Sari – Brother No. 3, Ta Mok – Brother No. 4, Khieu Samphan – Brother No. 5) were kept secret from the population.

The victims of the Half-Pot

Between 1975 and 1978, the death toll amounted to 2,746,105 people, including 1,927,061 peasants, 25,168 monks, 48,359 representatives of national minorities, 305,417 workers, employees and representatives of other professions, about 100 writers and journalists, a number of foreign citizens, as well as the elderly and children. 568 663 people are missing and either died in the jungle or buried in mass graves similar to those found in the Kampong Chnang Airport area, near Siem Reap and along the slopes of the Dangrek Ridge. These 3,374,768 people were killed by blows of hoes, clubs, burned, buried alive, cut into pieces, stabbed with the help of sharp leaves of a sugar palm, poisoned, electrocuted; they were tortured with fingernails pulled out, crushed by tractor tracks, thrown to crocodiles; their livers were cut out, which served as food. executioners, small children were quartered alive, thrown into the air and impaled on bayonets, beaten against tree trunks; women were raped and impaled.

Pol Pot's regime left behind 141,848 disabled people, more than 200,000 orphans, numerous widows who have not found their families. The survivors were deprived of strength, were unable to reproduce and were in a state of poverty and complete physical exhaustion. A large number of young people have lost their happiness as a result of forced marriages carried out on a massive scale.

634,522 buildings were destroyed, including 5857 schools, as well as 796 hospitals, paramedic centers and laboratories, 1968 churches were destroyed or turned into warehouses or prisons. 108 mosques were also destroyed. The Polpotovtsy destroyed a myriad of agricultural tools, as well as 1,507,416 cattle.

The Pol Pot regime was overthrown in January 1979 with the support of the armed forces of Vietnam. In 1993, the monarchy was restored and the Kingdom of Cambodia was proclaimed, headed by King Norodom Sihanouk. The Khmer Rouge, outlawed, continue to destabilize the situation in the country. Now the remnants of the Khmer Rouge detachments continue to hide in the jungle, waging a guerrilla war with the current regime.

Weather, tourist seasons

Cambodia's climate is tropical monsoon, hot.

The temperature varies from +25C to +40C, and its average annual value is + 27.4 °. The warmest month is April (+29.4°), the "coolest" is December (+ 25.7°).

In Cambodia, there are only two seasons of the year:

• The "rainy season" is from May to November. At this time, the southwest monsoon, emerging over the Indian Ocean, brings heavy thunderstorms that cause the water level in rivers and lakes to rise. Tropical showers usually begin in the afternoon and last two to three hours.
• The "dry season" is from November to April. During this period, there is a slight decrease in temperature and humidity. Rains are very rare. In the dry season, there is a cool period (from November to March; the coldest months are December, January) and a warm period (from March to May, with a temperature maximum in April).

In most parts of Cambodia, 750 to 1500 mm of precipitation falls during the year, in the mountains – up to 2000 mm or more, and the average annual rate in the country is about 1400 mm. The number of rainy days per year is over 120, cloudy days – more than 50. The relative humidity of the air is on average 78%.

The most favorable time for visits is from September to March. The ideal time to visit is December and January. At this time, the weather is neutral, there is no rain, the temperature is +30 - +35C, the humidity level is quite low.

The wet season, which lasts from May to October, is not necessarily a bad time to visit the country, as it may not rain for a long time.

Current weather in Sihanoukville and forecast*

* - прогноз указан по местному времени. Данные получены с https://openweathermap.org. Если отображаются устаревшие даты, обновите страницу с помощью F5+Ctrl.

Time in Cambodia

Time in Cambodia is ahead of Moscow time in summer and winter by +4 hours.

🕒 17 April, 2026