Three years ago, in Siem Reap, at the pandemic’s peak, a decade of unchecked tourism was redressed by a US$150 million infrastructure overhaul, the 38 Roads Project. It resulted in improved pavements, wider streets, riverside walking paths and cycling lanes; even the approach to Angkor Wat was transformed into a delightful boulevard.
As the pandemic subsided in Cambodia, travelers returned to admire the new-look streets, giving residents renewed hope for the city’s long-term survival. The Giant Puppet Street Parade returned, a procession of handcrafted monsters, as did annual events like the riotous Khmer New Year and Water Festival in April and November respectively.
Despite these positive signs and a deluge of café/restaurant openings, Siem Reap was slow to reclaim overseas tourists in this new normal of mindfulness and responsible travelling.
Save for longtime aficionados, the city became a low-yield tourist destination. A sparkling new airport was beset by limited destinations and significantly more expensive flights. Chinese tourists, once the key visitor demographic, were conspicuously absent.
In July 2024, Siem Reap’s deputy governor Yun Linne lamented the city’s “seriously injured” tourist industry and announced an ambitious plan to plant 10,000 trees covering 40ha of land around town. This “green campaign” (aka “Project T – Trees for Life”) will boost the city’s aesthetic appeal and environmental sustainability, enticing visitors to explore the city’s wider appeal.
“These developments not only aim to restore but elevate Siem Reap’s position as a must-visit destination, ensuring a seamless, enriched experience for tourists,” explained Linne.
Certainly, there’s a lot for visitors to discover besides the temples at Angkor.
Wat Bo Village was crowned “Asia’s Coolest Neighbourhood” by Time Out in 2022; it reached #3 on a list of 50 global neighborhoods, helping kickstart this street-beautification initiative. The Wat Bo Village story went viral, appeared across Cambodia’s newspapers and was featured on the news network CNN.
Most recently, Street 26—the village’s heartbeat—was further enhanced by newly planted trees, signage, benches and waste-segregation bins donated by a Japanese company, a community project enthusiastically backed by Governor Prak Sophoan and Yun Linne.
These aesthetic improvements were greenlighted by the provincial government and co-funded by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a Germany-based federal enterprise with 253 employees in Cambodia working on sustainable development, the environment and security.
GIZ helped organise September’s Wat Bo Village Festival alongside the provincial administration and the community; GIZ is also supporting an upcoming community dinner organised by the many businesses on nearby Bamboo Street. Treeline Urban Resort, run by New Zealand-born general manager Joni Aker, is heavily involved in the regeneration of the city and co-sponsors the green campaign.
Elsewhere, all kinds of artistic scenes are flourishing. Live music and comedy are scaling new heights: Pomme Brewhouse & Kitchen and Arin’s stage regular concerts; Laundry on Street 26 recently hosted retro-psychedelic combo Cambodian Space Project and Phnom Penh’s acclaimed Japan Guitar Shop.
Comedy returned to Siem Reap with a thunderbolt in August when Indian performer Papa CJ — who, in 2014, was voted Asia’s Best Standup Comedian and has sold out shows worldwide – performed at Sojourner House. His beyond-hilarious set kickstarted a scene led primarily by ex-pats, including the marvellously witty Princella Anum Gill.
This Karachi-born polymath also runs a family business, which transports Pakistan’s multi-faceted flavours to homes, events and kitchen takeovers; she also leads classes in the intricate choreography of Bollywood dancing. The Wat Bo Village Festival helped revitalise the comedy scene, and White Rabbit Hostel now stages regular shows.
Wat Bo Village is firmly in Prak Sophoan’s line of vision, enabled by Yun Linne—he plans to make it one of Siem Reap’s three showcase destinations, alongside Angkor Archaeological Park and Pub Street. They’ve stated that this area full of top-notch restaurants, social-enterprise cafés and bars is being positioned for sustainable tourism, thus accruing a loyal fanbase of returning visitors.
As Wat Bo Village’s marquee thoroughfare, Street 26’s F&B businesses are among the city’s finest. Tevy’s Place, co-managed by Tevy Moung and genial Ulsterman Cecil Holmes, serves delectable Khmer-Western cuisine to its myriad fans and friends. Tevy provided substantial sponsorship for the Wat Bo Village Festival. Another luminary is Banllé, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant set in a divine garden that grows many of the dishes’ ingredients.
Fine-dining restaurants include the all-female Embassy Restaurant, a gorgeous venue helmed by eclectic celebrity chef Kimsan Pol. At ultra-intimate Roleque, chef Kongleaphy “Phy” Keam cooks up wildly innovative, seven-course Khmer-European meals while relating stories about his recipes’ origins and flavours; an upstairs gallery displays Singaporean artist/teacher Isabelle Ri’s paintings.
At Cuisine Wat Damnak, founded by Frenchman Joannès Rivière and, bafflingly, the country’s only diner to feature on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants – the eight-course tasting menus are masterworks of culinary imagination. Over at Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, 1932 – referencing the grande dame’s inaugural year – offers four impeccable menus recalling Cambodia’s changing times and tastes from the 1930s, 1950s, 1960s and 1990s.
French brasserie Endora Restaurant on Little Pub Street has serious design flair and a stellar wine list, while Aaraama Restaurant transports diners on a gastronomic tour of Cambodian history. If young super-chef Mengly Mork’s PinakPou and Seiha Chomnab’s Jomnò Modern Khmer Cuisine represent a vivid re-imagination of Khmer cuisine, Malis, The Sugar Palm and Chanrey Tree rely on a traditional approach.
Out-of-town Le Malraux, Olive Cuisine de Saison and La Cabane, La Cusine des Filles serve the finest French food in town; the innovative Haven restaurant trains and educates disadvantaged young adults. Soul Authentic Indian Restaurant’s subcontinental and Chinese-Indian hybrid dishes have gone down a storm, near reliably chock-a-block tourists’ favourite Khmer Grill. High-end diners Fellini, Mamma Shop and da Stefano are all top-notch Italian-cuisine institutions.
Miss Wong, a 15-year-old cocktail lounge, flaunts the most beautiful design of any Cambodian bar, with its vivid paintings and ornaments; with a sister outlet in Battambang, its cocktails are among the best money can buy. The cocktail scene has made remarkable strides recently, with Ly Lim’s mellow Infusion Bar and Chris Callow’s buzzing Spin Bar on Wat Damnak Road making waves with their chic speakeasy ambience and mixology flair respectively.
Bar43’s inventive design, karaoke rooms and Khmer-Western cocktails have enlivened Alley West, along with Ambar and its neighbour,U-shaped veteran Picasso Bar. Scribe at boutique hotel FCC is an upmarket riverside option; comfort-food garden restaurant Wild has a terrifically original cocktail menu. Stewart Kidd has rebranded his former SO26, designed like a 1930s Parisian cocktail lounge, as Mr Ciao to reflect his new range of pizzas.
Back on Street 26, Dialogue 26 café is a multi-storey colossus with a rooftop bar. Perennially popular Footprints Café serves quality coffee, smoothies and delicious, generously sized meals. A local favourite, Jason Argenta’s “safe space for everyone” Krousar Café, has an offshoot NGO with educational facilities for the LGBTQI+ community. The Muffin Man on Street 27 serves a magnificent array of pastries, baked goodies, loaded baguettes and Melbourne-style coffee; Dieng Dorm’s brand is so successful it’s opened in Phnom Penh. Stalwarts Sister Srey and The Little Fox Espresso Espresso still have large fanbases.
There are standout social enterprises – aside from Haven, Tevy’s Place and Footprints Café, there’s Japanese accessories/clothing outlet Salasusu andall-Cambodian-staffed Spoons Restaurant & Café. Manava sells stunning baskets, bags and accessories made by female artisans. Phare, the Cambodian Circus’ breathtaking acrobatic performances top Siem Reap’s theatre list on TripAdvisor.
Tamara Venn Art Gallery in Kandal Village, celebrating Cambodian wildlife, lies near Kasaya Gallery, a venue housing the work of three Cambodia-resident photographers: Rémi Abad, Régis Binard and Alessandro Vannucci. Blue Art Hub – BAH is another brand-new venue with work from both local and international artists, while Theam’s Gallery, perhaps the most enticing of all art spaces, recently had a revamp.
There’s high-end fashion aplenty: Louise Loubatieres runs Siem Reap’s most dazzling boutique with her clothing, accessories, jewellery and ceramics. Sirivan Concept Store sells ladieswear in Aviary Square, near Ambre‘s elegant ladies’ dresses and an outlet for the city’s best-known designer, Eric Raisina, whose jaw-dropping creations are internationally recognised.
OKO Furniture is a goldmine for lovers of über-stylish interior décor, while Kandal Village hosts Soursdey Textiles, which stocks eye-catching, locally made textiles and accessories. Garden of Desire’sgorgeous jewellery tells subtle stories about Cambodia’s history, and Evi-Elli La Valle’s Satu, a “Siem Reap concept store” stuffed with Cambodian ephemera, clothing and art prints, is one of the city’s quirkiest, most beautiful retail ventures.
There’s such diversity on offer, that first-time visitors will be bamboozled at the volume of quality outlets crammed into this small, walkable city offering hope that Siem Reap’s recovery will finally be complete in 2025.