Sihanoukville, Cambodia: It’s the New Prague!

Okay, it’s not the new Prague. But Alexander Lobrano’s friend in Bangkok insisted that the Cambodian beach town of Sihanoukville was “the next Goa, the new Phi Phi,” the place to go for hipster bohemian backpackers in the know. So off Lobrano went to Sihanoukville, located a three-hour drive south of Phnom Penh. As he writes in the International Herald Tribune, he found a lovely beach town once popular with “Cambodia’s glamorous beau monde during the ‘60s,” a place where luxury hotels are on the rise and an airport runway is slated for lengthening and reinforcement.

Lobrano concluded that his friend in Bangkok just might be right. He has tips for visitors:

Sihanoukville is on the cusp, a deliciously laid-back place for a time out during heavy-duty Asian sightseeing. If you stay at the well-mannered Sokha Beach Hotel, catch the current scene by spending a day at Ochheuteal Beach. Lined with Berkeley, California-style bars, cafés and guesthouses, it has a happy, hippie funkiness along the lines of Goa and pulls a young international crowd out to have a good time on a small budget. Ochheuteal is also the best place to shop for a value-priced day of diving in and around the islands offshore.

Otherwise, do a day trip to Kep - locally famous for its seafood and especially its crabs; Kampot, known for its sleepy French colonial charm and pepper plantations, or atmospheric Bokor, an abandoned 1920s vintage casino and hill station.

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