Phnom Penh With Kids
A river capital where the Mekong and the Tonle Sap meet, with a gold roofed palace on the waterfront, French villas going to seed, glass towers going up, and a history in living memory that a family has to decide how to handle. Phnom Penh is two nights, done gently, and it is the city that explains Cambodia.
Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel
Is Phnom Penh good for kids?
Yes, for two nights. The Royal Palace with its silver floored pagoda, the National Museum, the Central Market, a sunset boat where the Mekong and Tonle Sap meet, the ferry to Silk Island and the Phnom Tamao wildlife center all work for children. The genocide sites are for kids 12 and up with preparation.
How many days do you need in Phnom Penh?
Two nights. One full day for the palace, the museum, the market and the sunset cruise, and a half day for Silk Island or the Killing Fields before you fly or drive on. Three if you add the wildlife center.
Should kids visit the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng?
From about 12, with a conversation the night before and the audio guide, and only in the morning with something gentle after. Younger children are better at the pool with a parent or on the ferry to Silk Island. It is a family decision, and either answer is right.
How do you get from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap?
Fly, about an hour, or take the road, 5 to 6 hours by bus or private car with a lunch stop. With kids I book the flight or a private car with a driver, which stops when the kids need it.
When is the best time to visit Phnom Penh?
November to February, dry and about 85 degrees. March and April are over 100. May to October is the rainy season with short afternoon storms and some street flooding in September and October. The Water Festival in November is a huge event and very crowded.
The Capital Where The Rivers Meet
Phnom Penh sits where the Tonle Sap river joins the Mekong, and the riverside promenade along Sisowath Quay is the city’s front porch, with the Royal Palace and the National Museum behind it, the wats and the French quarter to the north, and the markets inland. It was the Pearl of Asia in the 1960s, emptied by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, and has rebuilt itself since the 1990s into a loud, friendly, motorbike city of 2 million with new towers on the skyline and tuk tuks on most corners. For a family it is a day and a half of real sights, the palace, the museum, the markets and the river, and a half day of choice, the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng for older kids, or Silk Island and the wildlife center for younger ones.
Two nights covers the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, the National Museum, the Central Market, a sunset cruise on the river and either Silk Island or the genocide sites. Three adds the wildlife rescue center.
Getting Around
Tuk tuks on the PassApp or Grab apps, which fix the price and remove the haggling, a dollar or two across the center. The riverside, the palace and the museum are on foot. Traffic is heavy and motorbikes go in all directions, so hold hands at crossings and cross with a local. A car and driver for the Killing Fields or the wildlife center is arranged through the hotel. The ferry to Silk Island is a few hundred riel.
Neighborhoods worth basing in
The riverside and the palace quarter
Sisowath Quay and the streets behind it, with the palace, the museum, the river promenade, the evening food stalls and most of the hotels families use. Walkable to the main sights, lively at night and the base for a first visit.
BKK1, the embassy quarter
The leafy neighborhood south of the center where the expats live, with cafes, bakeries, small hotels with pools, playgrounds and a quiet that the riverside does not have. Ten minutes by tuk tuk to the palace, and the base for a family with small kids who want a pool and a calm street.
The French quarter and Wat Phnom
The north end of the center around the old post office, Wat Phnom’s hill and the colonial villas, with the Raffles and a few boutique hotels. Quieter, grander, and a 15 minute walk down the river to the palace.
Raffles Hotel Le Royal
The 1929 grand hotel in the French quarter with a garden, two pools, a kids’ menu and the Elephant Bar where the correspondents drank during the war. The splurge in Phnom Penh, and the one that makes the city feel like a story the kids are in.
Rosewood Phnom Penh
On the top floors of the Vattanac tower with the river and the whole city below, a pool in the sky, big family rooms and a breakfast the kids remember. Modern, calm above the noise, and the one I book for a family who wants a view and a pool between hot days.
Plantation Urban Resort
A garden hotel behind the palace with a big saltwater pool, family rooms around a courtyard, a good restaurant and the riverside a five minute walk. Good value for this location, and the pool is the afternoon.
The Three I Build Every Phnom Penh Trip Around
The Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda
The king still lives here, in a compound of gold roofed halls and gardens on the riverside, and the parts you can visit are the Throne Hall with its tiered roof and the Silver Pagoda next door, named for the 5,000 silver tiles on its floor, with an emerald Buddha and a life sized gold Buddha set with diamonds. The kids like the floor, the gardens and the murals of the Reamker along the walls. Go at 8 when it opens, dress with knees and shoulders covered, which is enforced, and allow 90 minutes. The National Museum next door has the Angkor statues in a red building around a courtyard, and an hour there is the cool part of the morning.
The riverside and the sunset cruise
Sisowath Quay is the mile of promenade along the Tonle Sap where the city comes out at dusk, families on mats, aerobics classes, kids feeding pigeons, food carts and the flags of the world along the railing. The sunset boat trips leave from the piers at 5 pm, an hour and a half up to where the Mekong joins, past the stilt houses and the fishing boats with the palace roofs going gold behind you, and they are cheap, calm and the gentlest hour of the day with children. The night market at the north end sells clothes and grilled food on mats, and the kids eat with their hands.
The markets, Wat Phnom and the city at night
The Central Market is a 1937 art deco dome, one of the largest market domes in Asia, with the jewelry and the watches under the dome and the food, the flowers and the fabric in the wings, and it is cool, covered and a morning the kids enjoy. The Russian Market in the south is the warren where the clothes from the factories end up and where the tailors and the craft stalls are. Wat Phnom is the hill the city is named for, a 90 foot mound with a temple on top, monkeys in the trees and an elephant statue, a 20 minute stop on the river walk. After dark the new towers light up across the water, and the view back at the city from the far bank or the sunset boat is the one that surprises families who expected a sleepy capital.
Family Time, Built In: Phnom Penh With Kids
Phnom Penh with kids is a floor of silver, the king’s gold roofs, a boat at sunset where two rivers meet, a tuk tuk through the traffic, a ferry to an island of weavers and an elephant at the rescue center.
The sunset boat where the rivers meet
A tuk tuk through the traffic
The ferry to Silk Island
Elephants at Phnom Tamao
PARK & DOWNTIME PICK
The riverside is the park at dusk, with the aerobics, the kites and the food carts. Wat Botum Park behind the palace has playgrounds and shade for the morning. Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre, an hour and a quarter south, is where confiscated animals live, elephants, tigers, sun bears, gibbons and a nursery of rescued babies, with a tour that lets the kids get close, and it is the day they remember. Kids City on Sihanouk Boulevard has a climbing wall, go karts and an ice rink for an afternoon out of the heat. The hotel pool is the rest.
Five Things To Eat In Phnom Penh
Kuy teav, the breakfast noodle soup
Grilled skewers from the night market
Fish amok and grilled Mekong fish
Mango, durian and fruit shakes
Iced Khmer coffee with condensed milkNicole’s Perspective
The hard history, handled with care
The Khmer Rouge years, 1975 to 1979, are part of the lives of most adults in Phnom Penh, and the two sites that tell the story, Tuol Sleng prison and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields, are the reason some families skip the city. I plan them for kids 12 and up, with the audio guide, half a day, and a conversation before and after, and I leave younger children at the pool with a parent. It is the same approach I use for Kigali and Berlin, and the kids who are ready for it come away understanding something.
The rest of Phnom Penh is a bright, easy city. The palace at 8 am, the museum, the Central Market, the sunset boat, and the elephants at Phnom Tamao. Gavin, at nearly 13, would do Tuol Sleng with me and we would talk about it for a week. Jake and Avilene would be on the ferry to Silk Island with Adam watching the weavers, and we would meet at the riverside for dinner on a mat.
The Day Trip: Silk Island, Or The Wildlife Center
Koh Dach, Silk Island, is 20 minutes upriver, a flat green island of villages and silk weaving where the kids see the worms, the dyeing and the looms under the houses, ride bikes between the rice fields and swim at a small beach in the dry season. The ferry is a few cents and the island has no cars to speak of. The other half day is Phnom Tamao, an hour and a quarter south, the wildlife rescue center with elephants, tigers, bears, gibbons and a nursery of orphaned animals, run with the Wildlife Alliance, where the behind the scenes tour puts the kids close to animals rescued from the trade. For a family with kids under 12, these two are the second day.
Things I Would Tell A Friend Before They Booked
How Many Days
Two nights covers the palace, the museum, the market and the river. Three adds Silk Island or the wildlife center.
The palace and the museum the first morning, the Central Market after lunch, the sunset boat and dinner on the riverside. Second morning Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek for older kids or Silk Island for younger ones, and the flight or bus on.
Add the Phnom Tamao wildlife day with the behind the scenes tour, a swim, and a last evening at the night market and the riverside kites.
Three nights in Siem Reap for Angkor, two in Phnom Penh, the bus or flight to Ho Chi Minh City for three, then the flight to Hoi An or Da Nang for the beach. Two weeks across two countries, and the Cambodia part done properly.
Phnom Penh With Kids, Answered
Is Phnom Penh good for kids?
Yes, for two nights. The Royal Palace with its silver floored pagoda, the National Museum, the Central Market, a sunset boat where the Mekong and Tonle Sap meet, the ferry to Silk Island and the Phnom Tamao wildlife center all work for children. The genocide sites are for kids 12 and up with preparation.
How many days do you need in Phnom Penh?
Two nights. One full day for the palace, the museum, the market and the sunset cruise, and a half day for Silk Island or the Killing Fields before you fly or drive on. Three if you add the wildlife center.
Should kids visit the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng?
From about 12, with a conversation the night before and the audio guide, and only in the morning with something gentle after. Younger children are better at the pool with a parent or on the ferry to Silk Island. It is a family decision, and either answer is right.
How do you get from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap?
Fly, about an hour, or take the road, 5 to 6 hours by bus or private car with a lunch stop. With kids I book the flight or a private car with a driver, which stops when the kids need it.
When is the best time to visit Phnom Penh?
November to February, dry and about 85 degrees. March and April are over 100. May to October is the rainy season with short afternoon storms and some street flooding in September and October. The Water Festival in November is a huge event and very crowded.
Ready To Put Phnom Penh On The Calendar
Send me your dates and your kids’ ages and I will plan Phnom Penh, the hotel with the pool, the palace morning, the sunset boat and the right second day for your family.
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