Best things to do in Kep – Cambodia’s Chill Beach Town

Despite being a small beach town, you’ll find there are many things to do on a trip to Kep in Cambodia.

We never heard of Kep before, and we only found this lovely place on a recommendation from a fellow traveler. When we arrived we were pleased to discover an authentic beach town full of friendly Cambodians, and so we concluded that Kep is a true hidden gem off the tourist trail in Southeast Asia.

So if you’re looking to visit a part of Cambodia where you can meet the locals eye to eye and eat delicious crab curries while watching beautiful sunsets, then Kep should be right up your alley.

In this travel guide, we’re going to share everything we know about Kep in Cambodia.

First we’ll share a bit information about what Kep is known for, how to get there, where to stay, and then we’ll give you our best things to do in Kep before ending the blog post with a top travel memory from our trip.

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Things to know before you visit Kep

Kep Province and city, also known as Krong Kaeb, is situated on the coast – not far away from the border to Vietnam. It’s often overlooked for more popular destinations in the area such as Kampot or the islands off the coast in Sihanoukville.

This is a shame because Kep also has a lot to offer! But before we dive into all the things to do in Kep, we’re first going to share some practical information about the Cambodian beach town.

What Kep is known for

Crabs!

Yes, you heard it right. Kep is known for serving the best crabs in Cambodia and maybe in all of Southeast Asia. Everyone – locals and tourists alike – are eating crabs in the restaurants or off the fish market in Kep. It’s just an absolute must do, unless you’re a vegetarian of course. Bless you.

Apart from crabs, Kep is known for being a small local beach town where Cambodians go to relax. Therefore, you won’t see many foreign tourists in the area.

Why visit Kep in Cambodia

Kep is a beautiful place that feels more like a small beach town than a city. The locals here are honestly some of the friendliest we’ve met in Southeast Asia. Since it’s not very known to tourists, you can count Kep as an off-the-beaten-track destination in Cambodia.

And that’s exactly why you should visit Kep. So you can meet the real local Cambodians who welcome you into their country with open arms.

You never hear someone yell, “TUK TUK?!” at you in this part of Cambodia. Instead people smile at you, wave at you, and engage in conversation with you.

On top of that, there are many things to do in Kep. But before we get to that part of the travel, we still have to figure out how to get there first.

How to get to Kep in Cambodia

There is only one way to get around in Cambodia… and that is to travel by the dreadful minivan. The infrastructure in Cambodia is the worst we’ve ever experienced in Asia. The highways are bumpy, dusty one-way lanes, which are often cluttered with traffic.

That’s just how it is in Cambodia, and it’s part of the experience. Our point being, if Google Maps says it takes 2 hours to go somewhere, it’ll take double the time, so more like 4 hours in reality. It always takes double the time to go anywhere. Keep this in mind when you travel in Cambodia.

Other than that, Cambodia is amazing!

Phnom Penh to Kep

According to Google, going from Phnom Penh to Kep will take between 3-4 hours, so in reality it can take between 6-8 hours depending on how lucky you are on the road. A seat in a minivan from Phnom Penh to Kep will set you back $8.

Kampot to Kep

Going from Kampot to Kep is really easy.

It will only take you around 30 minutes since the two cities are very close to each other. A seat in a minivan from Kampot to Kep will set you back $3-4 depending on the company you use.

Where to stay in Kep

There are so many nice accommodation options to choose from in Kep. Unfortunately, the guesthouse we stayed at doesn’t exist anymore, so we cannot recommend it in this blog post. Instead, we did a little research into where we would like to stay next time we’re in Kep.

We always book our accommodation through Booking.com, which is our favorite hotel platform. The following 3 accommodation options I list are after to budget. So below you’ll find the 3 hotels I would stay at if I was traveling on a low-, medium-, or high-end budget.

The 3 best places to stay in Kep

• Jungle House Kep: For those looking for cheap accommodation in an authentic Khmer house with a great location and some friendly owners.
• Raingsey Bungalow: Do you prefer to stay in your own bungalow? Check out this great place that also has a pool, breakfast included, and a beautiful sunset.
• Veranda Natural Resort: Do you want luxury? Stay in this beautiful resort that has several pools, large rooms with 40 squaremeters or more, is close to the beach, and has breakfast included.

How much a trip to Kep cost

We only spent between 43-51 USD per day in Kep, and this is for a couple traveling together. Notice that this was a few years ago, so prices may have changed a little.

Our accommodation was only 15 USD per night. However, we found that the food in Cambodia is pretty expensive compared to its neighbors in Thailand and Vietnam. We spent between 25-34 USD per day on food for two people.

As you can see, we travel on a tight budget, but if you throw in a bit of extra money, then you can live really well while traveling in Cambodia.

The 7 Best Things to do in Kep, Cambodia

All right, now it’s time to move onto the essence of this blog post. Here are all the best things you can do in Kep – Cambodia’s chill beach town.

1. Visit the crab market in Kep

As we mentioned earlier, Kep is known for its fresh crabs. Therefore, one of the must things to do in Kep, is to visit the crab market.

In the crab market, you can haggle your way to a kilo of fresh crabs, which are caught in cages just off the coast. Once you’ve got your crabs (that sentence sounds wrong somehow), you can pay a few extra dollars for someone to cook them for you. And VOILÀ! You have a delicious crab meal in front of you.

You can also buy other freshly caught things in the crab market in Kep such as fish, squids and shrimps.

Once you enter the crab market, it’ll most likely be very busy and full of Cambodians cooking, selling fish, and haggling over crab. But don’t get intimidated by the chaotic scene, just enter with your head held high and go haggle for those crabs with confidence!

2. Eat delicious crab curry

Right next to the crab market, you’ll see a strip of restaurants, which all have names such as: “Magic crab”, “Holy Crab”, and “The Crab kitchen”.

While the food in here is more expensive than in the crab market, it still comes with its benefits.

Because you can eat crab curry here!

I’d say it’s another must here in Kep to go and taste the amazing Crab Amok in one of the restaurants. Amok is the name of a type of Cambodian curry. Crab amok is very different from other curries we’ve tried around Asia. It’s a simple coconut curry, but the crab gives it a different taste and texture. Loved it!

We paid $10 for a big bowl of crab amok to share for two people with rice and fresh pepper from Kampot included. However, we believe this price is a bit outdated, and it varies from restaurant to restaurant. So expect to pay a little bit more today.

If you visit in the evening, you can also enjoy a wonderful sunset from one of the restaurants as well.

3. Go to Kep Beach and relax

We’ll be honest, the beach in Kep isn’t a secluded, exotic, white sandy beach like you would find on Koh Rong Samloem just a few hundred kilometers away.

However, there is something about Kep beach that is just so lovely! We’d say that visiting Kep Beach is one of the must things to do because it’s somehow the center of the city.

It’s where the local Cambodians from Kep and the Cambodians on vacation hang out. It’s always full of people – children, parents, friends, newly weds, monks, and a tourist now and then.

People sit around the beach with their families and friends and eat crabs or lay in hammocks. There is such a chill vibe around the beach that just makes you feel relaxed, yet there is always something happening here! It’s the perfect place to do some people-watching.

4. Hike in Kep National Park

Since we are the “Worldwide Walkers”, it was kind of mandatory for us to find somewhere to go on a hike while visiting Kep in Cambodia.

Luckily for us, Kep has a National Park.

Following the trail around the National Park turned out to be one of our favorite things to do in Kep! We left early in the morning, so we were lucky to see the jungle wake up. During our hike, we saw so many small animals and heard a lot of funny nature sounds – it was just amazing.

We also followed the trail up to a popular viewpoint named “Sunset Rock”, which was pretty cool as well.

If you want a bit of exercise, then we can 100% recommend a hike in the National Park. Just remember to start the hike early in the day before the heat kicks in, wear mosquito repellent, and bring enough water.

5. Watch a beautiful sunset

One of the other great things to do in Kep is to watch the sun set over the ocean. You’ll get the best views from the crab market or at the Sunset Rock in the National Park (The latter require some serious jungle trekking though!)

So make sure to catch one of those beautiful sunsets on your trip to Kep in Cambodia. I don’t have much else to say about this, so I’ll let Glenn’s picture speak for itself.

6. Visit Koh Tonsay off the coast

One of the things we didn’t get to do in Kep was to head to Koh Tonsay, also known as, “Rabbit Island”.

Just off the coast in Kep, you’ll spot Koh Tonsay, which is an island that is so tiny that you can walk around it. It only has two options for accommodation there. So, people often go here for just one night or you can go on a day trip from Kep.

We planned to go to Koh Tonsay, but we were enjoying Kep so much that time flew by before we had the opportunity or time to visit. So unfortunately, we don’t have a picture from the island.

7. Go on a scooter trip to Kampot

Kampot is only 20-something kilometers away from Kep, so you can easily go here on a day trip. We actually stayed a few days in Kampot before visiting Kep, so we never felt the need to do a scooter trip.

Just know that the road can be very dusty and sandy, so you might get dirt in your face unless they just watered down the road to keep the dust down.

Just like Kep, there are plenty of things to do in Kampot such as visiting a Pepper farm or going into Bokor National Park to see the abandoned colonial hill station. Kampot is also a much bigger city than Kep, which means that you can find a lot of great food options here if you should get tired of crabs.

If you’re not comfortable on a scooter, then you can also join a tour around Kampot. On the tour you’ll discover salt fields, a cave temple, a secret lake, and a pepper farm. Just notice that the tour starts from Kampot and not from Kep.

Our best travel memory from Kep (+extra things to do)

Before we end this blog post about all the things to do in Kep, we’d like to share our top travel memory from this part of Cambodia. We call the memory – “6 monks and 1 banana boat” – so, here goes!

Glenn, me, and a lovely friend, who we met while traveling, were walking down the beach in Kep. We bumped into 6 young Buddhist monks who were swimming and having fun in the ocean.

The monks were very interested in Glenn and quickly engaged in conversation. Even though communication in English was limited, they were all having a great laugh with Glenn. What they were laughing about, we still don’t know. But it looked like a good time!

After about half an hour, the conversation ended and we all moved on with our day. Glenn told me that they had to leave because they were going on the banana boat. Eeeh whaaat?! I was thinking that he misheard what they said, I mean, monks don’t do water sports. Right?

While we continued walking down the coast, we suddenly heard the sound of a speed boat. Attached to the boat was 6 monks sitting on a banana boat, holding on to their dear life with one hand while waving frantically at us with the other hand. They looked like they were having so much fun!

And to this day, that was one of the greatest sights we’ve ever seen!

I had this idea about monks (and very religious people in general) that they don’t have that much fun. Religious people are serious human beings who devote their life to the higher power. But, who ever said that monks, priests, and imams don’t have fun?!

Watching these 6 monks laughing so loudly on a banana boat completely shattered the prejudice I had about people who devote their life to religion. Thank you for the eye-opener! And isn’t that what traveling is all about? Opening your mind to learn something new about this beautiful world.

So apart from the many things to do in Kep, which we already mentioned, you can also just grab a friend and rent a banana boat, jet ski or pedalos! A little extra thing to do for those who love water sports.

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We hope you enjoyed this blog post about the best things to do in Kep, Cambodia! If you have any questions/memories about Kep that you would like to ask/share, then please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!

If you’re into things such as fresh crabs, beautiful sunsets, and a relaxing atmosphere, thenweI can 100% recommend Kep on your next trip to Cambodia.

Thanks for reading and happy travels!