Kampot and Kep (Cambodia) construction and tourism development

Trip report from my visit in December 2024, including the two-tower apartment project in Kampot Town, the Tiktokification of tourism landmarks, and land reclamation in Kep.

Kampot and Kep are the southernmost provinces in Cambodia. Kampot Province includes the charming colonial-era riverside city of Kampot, and Kep is reawakening as a coastal tourism destination.

Kampot Province (in red) surrounding Kep Province (via Wikipedia).

I’m a regular visitor to Kampot and Kep, partly because they are on the train route between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville and partly because it’s a beautiful part of Cambodia.

I returned to Kampot and Kep in December 2024 and visited some of the main projects of the two provinces. This report covers the two-tower apartment project in Kampot Town, the Tiktokification of tourism landmarks, and land reclamation in Kep.

Kampot

The last time I was in Kampot was in January 2022, a month after the country had reopened. Most of the foreigners were expats who had stayed during the pandemic, and there were still many shops closed.

I returned to Kampot in December 2024 after visiting Sihanoukville. It was a Sunday afternoon during the Sea Festival, and the contrast to my last visit couldn’t have been starker. I had never seen Kampot so busy in any of my previous visits.

Sea Festival crowd

There were nearly 400,000 visitors to Kampot during the festival. I was concerned that the scourge of overtorusm had reached Kampot, but this turned out to be a festival crowd. The town reverted to its sleepy state after the festival weekend.

Kampot has a lovely old town area, and I have often wondered why it isn’t more famous. Being inland from the sea has probably been its saving grace.

An old cinema converted into a hotel

There are signs, though, that Kampot has been discovered (or at least considered a safe bet to open chain stores). The most gobsmacking sign of gentrification is the opening of a Starbucks in the historic Fish Market building on the riverfront.

Starbucks at Kampot Fish Market

I was pleased to see that a Brown Coffee store had also opened in Kampot. Brown Coffee are a chain that began in Phnom Penh, and their lattes are more Australian-style than Starbucks-style.

And the ultimate sign that your small town has graduated to city status is when 7-Eleven arrives.

7-Eleven in Kampot

There has been talk of developers buying up large plots of land to redevelop Kampot, but it’s not evident in the old town area yet. This speculation was around when the largest apartment project in the city began construction.

The Thai Boon Roong Kampot Building was under construction when I visited in 2022, but construction has stalled. The same developer was going to build the world’s tallest twin towers in Phnom Penh.

Thai Boon Roong Kampot Building

Apart from this abandoned apartment project, there aren’t many big projects in the city area. There is a tall apartment block on the other side of the river that is also unfinished. This side of the river (where there are no historic buildings) is where they should be building tall apartments.

There are signs that the city has thought about making itself more appealing for visitors, with new landmarks for the Instagram/TikTok era. A seahorse fountain statue was installed on the riverfront, and it was instantly likened to the Merlion statue in Singapore.

Another new landmark is the Giant Clock. It’s an interesting design, but it’s too far for it to be TikTokable if that was the intention.

The old bridge also has had some new lights added to it to make it more visually appealing for social media.

I would normally get the train to Kamport, but on this trip, I got a van from Sihanoukville to Kampot. There is only 1 train a day in each direction, and the train from Sihanoukville to Kampot leaves late in the afternoon.

I went to Kampot Station to watch a train arrive. The train was an hour late, and I didn’t have the time to wait around. If Cambodia eventually rebuilds the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Railway, there would be trains running throughout the day. If that happens, then there would be an apartment boom in Kampot as it would become easier to travel from Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville.

The biggest planned development in Kampot is the Funan Techo Canal. The canal will connect the Mekong River in Phnom Penh to the sea in Kampot. The project was officially launched in 2024, but there hasn’t been any progress on construction.

There are advertising billboards in Kampot promoting the project.

Kep

Kep is a coastal province that is surrounded by Kampot. There aren’t white sandy beaches here like in Sihanoukville, which has spared it from being overdeveloped.

There is a resort being built on the coastal road when you enter Kep Province, but it has already been abandoned midway through construction.

The government has been reclaiming land along the Kep coastline. This area was busy with construction equipment when I was last here. The sea has now been filled in and there is a road to the new seafront. This is part of a 2.7km long land reclamation project.

Reclaimed land in Kep

There is a restaurant on the new seafront called The Wave, and the businesses in this area are being branded as Kep West. The restaurant has been featured in architecture news sites for its design.

The Wave Kep West

Next to The Wave is a new pier that is part of the Royal Cambodia Yacht Club. The pier is purely decorative as there is no way to moor a boat next to it.

Land reclamation was also happening at the famous Crab Market. A new harbour has been created for fishing boats.

Kep Beach is the main beach of the province.

It’s a small beach with imported sand, and there is no way it can compete with the powdery sand in Sihanoukville.

Propaganda billboards for the Funan Tech Canal are also in Kep, even though the canal doesn’t go through Kep.

Kep Town is the main city of Kep Province. Most of the activity of the town/city is on the main road that follows the coast. There is a gridded-out city area off the main road where the famous villas of Kep were in their heyday.

The gridded area of Kep has the remains of villas from the French colonial era. Most of the villas were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge.

There are some new houses and hotels in this area, but everything is so spread out that there is no feeling of it being a coherent town centre.

Despite the number of abandoned villas, the roads are well-maintained.

There are a few hotels in this area, but you need your own transport to stay there. Kep Town is nothing like Kampot Town, where you can stay without needing transport.

There is a new road that follows the coastline of Kep to Angkol Beach. This is another area in Kep that is being developed into a tourist destination.

After this Kampot/Kep trip, I got a bus to Ha Tien in Vietnam. The bus went on this new road to Angkol Beach, and it was an unusual sight to see such a good road with no traffic on it. I have marked it on my map for a future visit.