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Kep

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A French seaside resort of 1908 on the Gulf of Thailand, its modernist villas of the 1950s and 1960s, some stripped, some restored, and an island of crab restaurants offshore.

Fly to Kep All of Cambodia
Arrival
Techo International, Phnom Penh · KTI
To Kep
About 135 km from Phnom Penh as the crow flies
Private jets
VIP terminal at KTI, then by road
Best time
December to February

The city

Kep-sur-Mer, sixty years on.

The French founded Kep-sur-Mer in 1908 for themselves and the Cambodian elite, and between 1953 and 1970 the town filled with modernist villas that married concrete and Khmer forms. Many were stripped by residents short of money and food in the Khmer Rouge years. Three of them, by the architect Vann Molyvann, have been restored as a small hotel on the water.

The coast is at its best from December to February, when the rain stays under 85 mm a month, the afternoons hold at 30 to 31 °C and the sea is around 28 °C. The south-west monsoon arrives in May; on this coast July and August can bring several hundred millimetres.

  • Koh Tonsay Rabbit Island, about 4.5 km offshore, where beach restaurants cook the day's crab, shrimp and fish.
  • Kep National Park An 8 km trail around the wooded hills behind the town, with the gulf below.
  • The modernist villas Houses of the 1950s and 1960s along the shore, some restored, others still as they were left in the 1970s.

Arriving

Phnom Penh, then south to the gulf.

Kep has no airport. The usual arrival is Techo International, which replaced Phnom Penh International in September 2025, about 135 km north of Kep in a straight line; the rest of the journey is by road.

Business & First Class Airline flights Techo is Cambodia's main gateway, open from 06:00 to 03:00, served by thirty-one airlines on more than fifty routes. Business & First fares Private Jet Private aircraft Business aviation has its own VIP terminal at Techo, where immigration, customs and quarantine are done on site, and eight companies handle private aircraft. Two days' notice is advised; a car can then take you south to the coast. Charter a jet
Approximate flying time by midsize jet
  • Kuala Lumpur 1 h 30
  • Singapore 1 h 40
  • Hong Kong 2 h 30
  • Seoul 5 h 10
  • Barcelona 13 h 30 long-range jet

When to go

December to February.

The afternoons never drop below 30 °C, and the gulf stays at 28 to 30 °C through the year. December to February is dry; rain builds through April and May, and from June to October the south-west monsoon brings well over 250 mm a month to this coast.

  1. 31° J 39 28°
  2. 31° F 42 28°
  3. 32° M 86 29°
  4. 33° A 132 30°
  5. 33° M 230 30°
  6. 31° J 367 29°
  7. 31° J 380 29°
  8. 31° A 516 29°
  9. 31° S 364 29°
  10. 31° O 291 29°
  11. 30° N 194 29°
  12. 30° D 84 28°
Best months weather2travel.com, long-term averages for Kompong Som (Sihanoukville), the nearest station

Where to stay

Restored villas by the sea, and a resort on the Kampot River.

Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.

Where to dine

Where to book in Kep.

No MICHELIN Guide covers Cambodia. Both tables belong to Knai Bang Chatt: its signature restaurant and its fine-dining room, as TTG Asia describes it.

  • The Strand Signature restaurant, Knai Bang Chatt Seafood, Khmer and international $$$$ Knai Bang Chatt, on the shore
  • Crab & Co. TTG Asia Seafood Knai Bang Chatt, on the shore

Elsewhere in Cambodia

More reasons to come.

All of Cambodia

Flying to Kep?

Choose how you arrive.

A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.

Business & First Private Jet