Getting to Battambang
 

Air: At time of printing there are no flights to Battambang.

Siem Reap to Battambang
Boat Daily ferry departs in each direction at 7:00am. $20-$25/person. It's a picturesque, 6-8 hour journey across the Tonle Sap and along the Sangker River in the wet season, but can be considerably longer in the dry season due to low water levels. Ask about current conditions. The boats in no way meet international safety standards. There is no direct boat from Phnom Penh.

Road (National Routes #6 and #5, via Sisophon): The road from Battambang to Siem Reap around the west side of the lake is in excellent condition. The perennially broken stretch between Siem Reap and Sisophon has been fully repaired.

Bus: Two bus companies (Neak Krorhorm and Rith Mony) run multiple daily a/c buses. Buy tickets at the bus company office (see map.) $4-$5, 4 hours.

Taxi: A private taxi costs $40-$50 and takes 3-4 hours

Phnom Penh to Battambang
Road (291km, National Route #5): The road is paved and in good condition.

Bus Several bus companies (including Phnom Penh Sorya, GST, Neak Krorhorm and Capitol Tours) run multiple daily buses between Phnom Penh to Battambang. First bus departs at 6:30AM and the last at 2:30 or 3:00PM. Fare: 17,000R-20,000R. The trip takes 5 hours. In Battambang, buses depart from the various transportation company offices. See the map.

Taxi A private taxi is $35 - $45. Shared taxi: 25,000R per person. 4 hours. Prices for shared local transport are very nominal, but are also crowded and uncomfortable. Buy more than one place for the extra leg room..

Getting Around Battambang
Like most of Cambodia, the choice is motorcycle taxi (motodup), rent a car with driver, or rent a motorcycle. Your hotel can arrange a car or motorcycle rental. Cars are about $20/day and motorcycle rental runs $5-$8/day - a bit more expensive than other towns. Motodups are plentiful during the day. Just step onto the street and they will find you. They can be much more difficult to find at night. A ride in town should range 500 to 1500 riel.

Battambang Hotels/Guesthouses

The Bungalow Guesthouse and Restaurant

Range: $12-$20

Clean, new guesthouse and bungalows on a quiet street. Unique stone bungalows, and very large guesthouse rooms with fan or a/c, CTV, hot water. Good restaurant serving Khmer, Thai and Western food. Free bicycle use for guests. Cultural, village and NGO tours can be arranged.

Tel: 012-916123
info@thebungaloweb.com

www.thebungaloweb.com

Bus Stop Guesthouse  
Range: $10-$20

Clean, Australian managed guesthouse in the center of town offering fan and a/c rooms with cable TV, en suite bathroom. Lightning fast wifi internet access in the restaurant and rooms. Western food. Free laundry service. Tour services and expert travel advice. Motorcycle rental.

Tel: 053-730544
E-mail: info@busstopcambodia.com
Website: www.busstopcambodia.com

Colors & Tents

Range: $10-$40 Breakfast included.

A/c guesthouse rooms in a traditional Khmer-style stilted wooden house on the river road (east side.) Restaurant. In-room wifi. Tent camping available. Special discount: stay 3 nights, pay for 2.

Tel: 011-876322, 011-876344
mamaisongroup@gmail.com
http://mamaisonbattambang.hi5.com  

Khemara Battambang I Hotel
Range: $15 - $250

92 rooms. A/c rooms and suites with all amenities: cable TV, fridge, en suite with hot water. Swimming pool. Located in a quiet area. Large parking area. Karaoke rooms. Conference rooms and banquet facilities. Free Wifi in rooms. Restaurant.
Tel: 053-737878, 017-612168 Fax: 053-732626
E-mail: admin@khemerahotel.com / gm@khemarahotel.com 
Website: www.khemarahotel.com 

La Villa
Range: $60-$85

Nicely restored 1930s colonial house. Seven rooms with a/c and fan, stylishly decorated with antiques and Art Deco furniture. Western and Asian food and a wide selection of cocktails served in the a/c restaurant or garden. Swimming pool.
Tel: 053-730751, 089-930151
E-mail: lavilla@online.com.kh
Website: www.lavilla-battambang.com
 

Ma Maison á Battambang

Range: $65 Breakfast included

Restored colonial villa (maison d’hote) on the river road. Traditional decor, a/c rooms with en suite bathroom with hot water. In-room wifi. Dipping pool. Dinner on request. Special discount: stay 3 nights, pay for 2.

Tel: 011-876322, 011-876344
mamaisongroup@gmail.com

http://colorsofbattambang.hi5.com 

Paris Hotel
Range: $10-$12

Recently renovated, clean, centrally located hotel with a/c rooms with cable TV, fridge and en suite bathrooms with hot water. Some with balcony. Street 3, downtown near Phsar Nath.

Tel: 012-530730

Stung Sangke Hotel
Range: $40-$100

Brand new quality hotel offering 207 well appointed rooms and suites. Swimming pool. Restaurant. Soho Club.

Tel: 053-953495
E-mail: info@stungsangkehotel.com
Website: www.stungsangkehotel.com

Teo Hotel

$11-$44

Immaculately clean en suite a/c rooms with cable TV and hot water. Meeting room. Restaurant. A favorite for NGO and business travelers.

MC
Tel: +(855) (0)12-857048

Battambang Restaurants/Bars

Bus Stop Guesthouse Western run bar and restaurant offering good western and Khmer food. Western breakfasts, burgers, fries, cold beer, full bar, music. Good source of local information. The fastest wifi in town. Located on Street 2 next to the White Rose.
www.busstopcambodia.com
 

The Bungalow Guesthouse Restaurant Guesthouse restaurant and bar with an photo extensive menu of Khmer and Thai dishes as well as some western food including burgers and pizzas. Comfortable place. Good food. Some of the best coffee in town.

Champey Garden Restaurant Local restaurant with a clean, comfortable atmosphere. Serving very good Cambodian, Thai and even some Lao dishes. Very reasonably priced food and draft beer. Recommended.

Chinese Noodle Restaurant Inexpensive local restaurant Just a few doors down from the White Rose. Very good fresh made noodles, noodle soup, lots of Chinese dishes. Good place for a local breakfast noodle soup (kuiteo) or fried meat and rice.
 

H & H (Khmer Delight) Restaurant Offering Asian/ European fusion cuisine – an interesting array of choices of food, including such Khmer favorites as Lok Lak and desserts, and dishes from Indonesia, Italy, Australia and France. Famous Battambang fruit shakes. Beer and wine.

Juniper - the Gin Den An eclectic venue located in the corner of street 1 ½ where it turns to join Street 2. Food includes pizza, Indian curries, and Khmer fusion. World music & retro, Secondhand books, Scrabble, and of course Bombay and Tanqueray. Open 6.30pm.

La Villa The finest western dining in Battambang. Excellent western and Asian food and a wide range of cocktails served in an a/c restaurant or the garden patio of a nicely restored 1930s colonial villa. Wine selection. Western managed. Located on the river road on the east side of the river. www.lavilla-battambang.com

Pkay Proek Well-known, popular Cambodian restaurant and beer garden catering primarily to locals and serving Cambodian, Thai and other Asian dishes. Good place for an authentic Cambodian dinner. Located on Street 2, south of the Teo Hotel.
 

Pomme D’Amour Lovely little French restaurant in the center of town offering traditional French, western and locally inspired fare. Wine, cocktails and Italian coffee. Attention to detail. Nice place for a romantic dinner. Reasonably priced. Street 2-1/2.

Pure Cafe Cozy cafe/bar in the center of town serving Asian and some western snacks and meals including a goodly variety of curries. Full bar, cold beers, spirits and some cocktails. Art and books. Street 2-1/2.

Riverside Balcony The name says it. Very pleasant riverside location. Western managed balcony bar and restaurant hovering over the banks of a quiet stretch of the Sangker River. Beer, spirits and good conversation. Burgers, pasta, enchiladas, specials on the board.
 

Scoop Late night bar and cafe specializing in cocktails. Sports bar with big screen TV upstairs. Snacks and meals coming soon. Often open till 2:00AM or later.

Smokin Pot Well-known and popular with travelers. Serving authentic Khmer and Thai food. Also running half-day Cambodian cooking courses. Tel: 012-821400

Sunrise Coffeehouse Western style bakery/cafe offering a variety of pastries, pizza, pies and cookies, western breakfasts and a good selection of coffees and teas. Sign the wall to mark your visit to Battambang. Located at the back of town near the Royal Hotel. 6:30AM - 5:00PM. Tel: 053-953426

White Rose Long popular with the NGO crowd, this small, corner shop Cambodian restaurant offers an extensive menu, good Cambodian food, ice cream, reasonable prices and ponderous service. Street 2.. 6:30AM - 10PM.

Battambang: What to See
Battambang City is absolutely full of wonderful colonial-era architecture and historic old pagodas, and the surrounding countryside harbors not only Angkorian-era temple ruins and pagodas but also offers some of the most picturesque rice paddy and village scenery in the country. The new edition of Ray Zepp’s essential guide to Battambang and the surrounding area, Around Battambang, is available at tourist hotels and restaurants throughout Battambang City. Zepp’s 164 page guide contains invaluable information on Battambang’s historic pagodas, Angkorian era temple ruins, surrounding countryside and local travel details. Highly recommended. 

Bamboo Train The bamboo train is a unique and creative form of ad-hoc local transportation. It consists of a small (perhaps 2.5m x 4m), motorcycle engine-powered bamboo cart that rides the railroad rails picking up and dropping off passengers, cargo, animals, motorcycles along the way. When it meets on on-coming train or bamboo train, it can be disassembled and taken off the rails in a minute or two, allowing the other to pass. When touring the countryside ask your driver to take you to a rail crossing where you can meet a bamboo train to take a ride.

Circus In partnership with Asian Trails, the Phare Ponleu Selpak NGO gives Cambodian children from poor and disabled families the opportunity to “have access to culture via different artistic activities” including music, drawing drama, dancing and circus. See traditional Cambodian circus acts daily beginning at 7:00PM or 8:00PM. US$6 admission. Contact Asian Trails (Tel/Fax: 053-730088 in Battambang, or 023-216555 in Phnom Penh), or the Phare Ponleu Selpak office (Tel: 053-952424, 012-890360) for the schedule. Located on Route #5 about 1km west of town.

Website: www.phareps.org .

Cooking Classes The Smokin Pot restaurant offers Khmer and Thai food cooking classes on request. Class daily from 9:00AM - 1:30PM at the Smokin Pot. Learn three recipes and prepare lunch in the process. Book a class at the Smokin Pot a day in advance.

Countryside Tour The rural countryside outside of Battambang is National Geographic picturesque. Within just a few kilometers of town the countryside turns into small villages filled with stilted houses and rice paddies that stretch to the horizon. You’ll see plenty of countryside on the way to any of the local sites. Check out some of the local products in the making - rice paper, noodles and the fishpaste market. It’s all very traditional if not a bit unhygienic and smelly, but a interesting experience and adventure nonetheless. The roads are often rough and during the dry season. always exceptionally dusty. Bring a good hat and a krama to cover your nose and mouth. 

Ek Phnom is an 11th century Angkorian-era ruin built as a Hindu temple under Suryavarman I. The temple consists of prasats on a platform with some carvings in pretty good condition. Wat Ek Phnom, a modern pagoda, sits next to the ruin. The river road drive to Ek Phnom from Battambang passes through small villages and rice paddies and is an absolutely beautiful countryside drive. 

Phnom Banan is a mountain top, 11th century Angkorian-era ruin consisting of five prasats. Peaceful location with a nice view of the area. Also L’Ang But Meas cave. Very old (150 years+) active pagoda at the base of the mountain.

Pagodas Both Battambang town and the surrounding countryside are replete with pagodas, some of them very old and highly respected. See Ray Zepp's book Around Battambang for complete information about visiting the local pagodas.

Phnom Sampeou Mountain, steeped in legend, and topped by Wat Sampeou and a group of caves used as ‘killing caves’ by the Khmer Rouge, containing the skeletal remains of their victims. The wat is unexceptional but the view is spectacular. Ask about the legend of Neang Rumsay Sok. 

Provincial Museum The Battambang Provincial Museum on the riverfront in the center of town houses a large collection of Angkorian and pre-Angkorian artifacts - statues, carvings, bits of ancient temples, pottery, etc. One of the best provincial museums. Hours: 8AM-11AM/2PM-5PM, make reservations for weekend visit and they will open the door for you. Admission: $1. Tel: 092-914688, 016-896727.

Shopping in Battambang
Phsar Nath in the center of town is the main phsar (traditional market) and is geared to the locals, sporting the usual variety of fruits, vegetables, meat, clothes, sundries, food stalls, etc. Gem dealers, a couple of banks, photo shops and moneychangers line the streets that ring the phsar. Phsar Leu, just south of town, seems to be the place to buy the local specialties: oranges and pomelos from Pursat province. The oranges are said to be the best oranges in the country.

Chea Heang Drink Shop is a small convenience store on the west side of Phsar Nath, popular with foreigners and offering ice cream bars, cheeses, yogurt, wines, and other imported items.

The Smiling Sky Bookshop Second hand bookshop dealing in English language books - Cambodia related titles, novels, popular literature. Buy sell trade. On Road #2 near the White Rose.

Local goods Marble sculpture from Pursat province, woodcarvings from Battambang and sapphires from Pailin dominate the souvenir market in Battambang. Many of the hotels as well as the small souvenir/art/curios shops on Road #1 on the river in the center of town offer a selection of wood and marble products. The art shops have a better selection than the hotels and a couple have very interesting collections of curios, old trinkets, coins, antiques and oddities - well worth a look.

Cambodian sapphires and rubies mined in Pailin near the Thai border are brought to Battambang to be graded, cut and polished. There are some good deals on stones in Battambang but be very careful when buying. Fake and low quality jewel scams are common so you need to know gemology or know your gem dealer very well. Gem and gold dealers are located in the center of Psah Nath, in little shops surrounding the psah, and in a few shops on Road #1.  

Internet/Phone in Battambang
There are Internet shops all over town. KCT Internet Cafés has a shop next to the White Rose restaurant. Teo Hotel also has a small Internet shop. Access is relatively fast and stable. About $1.50/hour. Most internet shops offer very inexpensive internet phone. Bus Stop Guesthouse has free wifi, probably the fastest in town.

Banks in Battambang
Money Like the rest of Cambodia, the Cambodian riel is the official currency but the US Dollar is the de facto tender. Hotel prices are set in dollars. Unique to Battambang and western Cambodia, Thai baht is in common use as well. 

Banks and ATMs All banks encash travelers checks and change money and most have ATMs. Canadia Bank, UCB and ANZ Royal are located in front of Phsar Nath, all with ATMs. The ACLEDA Bank on the east side of the river offers Western Union. Moneychanger/goldsellers are concentrated around the market with a few along Road #1.

Canadia Bank Plc.
Full range of banking services, including MoneyGram, Traveler Cheque & Foreign Exchange
The North of Phsar Thom Market, Battambang
Tel: (855-53) 952 267 Fax: (855-53) 952 005
Telex: CANADIA KA36188, SWIFT Code: CADI KH PP
E-mail: canadia.bb@canadiabank.com.kh
Web-site: www.canadiabank.com

Updated 05/09