6 Relaxing Things To Do in Kep, Cambodia
On the coast of rarely-explored Cambodia lies the sleepy town of Kep. During the colonial period of the early 20th century, Kep was a favorite of the French elite. Once Cambodia became independent, it became the favorite of Cambodian elite. When the Khmer Rouge took power, Kep was decimated. You can still see bullet holes in some of the buildings. Fortunately, Kep is rebounding, luring travelers with boutique hotels, delicious food, it’s coastal ambiance, and all around charm. The 36,000 people that call this place home have created a welcoming atmosphere for tourists with plenty of relaxing things to do in Kep.
Kep and it’s neighbor to the north, Kampot, are easy to do together. A few days in Kampot, a few in Kep and maybe one on Koh Tonsay.
Go to Kep Now, Before It’s Too Late
With Kampot, it’s sister to the north, Kep is replacing Sihanoukville - a once quaint, chill beach community turned over-developed, casino filled, Chinese tourist destination - as southern Cambodia's beach hot spot. But because of that, Kep and Kampot may be heading down the same path as Shanoukville.
The original appeal of a quaint small coastal town is starting to erode as more tourists come and Chinese investment grows. BBC even says so.
How to Get Around
The absolute best way to get around Kep and the surrounding area is to rent a motor bike. It’s cheap and easy to handle in Kep compared to other bigger cities.
There’s really no other way to see it, other than hiring a tuk-tuk driver. But if you want to have the freedom to do what you want, when you want, get a bike.
6 Relaxing Things To Do in Kep
1. Eat the Freshest Catch at the Kep Crab Market
Crab with Kampot Pepper is the dish to get in this area. And there’s no better place to get it than at the Kep Crab Market.
Right near the water, on a makeshift pier, you can see small fishing boats 50 yards out pulling up wooden crates, then bringing them to old women on the pier who conduct a visual quality check, tossing some back in the water, while offering others to the eager customers.
Grab a seat at any of the stalls in the market and order up the freshest catch.
2. Relax at Kep Beach
A small strip of beach and Kep’s only proper beach, chill on the imported white sand with a drink and a good book. It gets pretty busy on weekends and its also pretty shallow, so it’s not the best place for swimming, but a great spot for relaxing.
However, if you’re looking for a real beach experience, spend a day on Koh Tonsay, also known as Rabbit Island.
3. Really Relax on Koh Tonsay (Rabbit Island)
Just 30 minutes by boat from Kep is a small island that will make you feel virtually isolated from the world. No hotels, no cars, no legit restaurants, just beach front shacks, your two feet, and makeshift, one stove restaurants that serve what they catch 20 meters off shore.
With oceanfront massages, isolated beaches, Khmer food, beers, cocktails, hammocks and hikes, Koh Tonsay has whatever relaxation means to you, as long as it’s on the minimalist side.
Read more about getting to Koh Tonsay and what to do while you’re there.
4. Really, Really Relax in a Swaying Beachfront Hammock
Of all the relaxing things to do in Kep, snoozing in a hammock is at the top of the list. On the coastal road of Kep, between the Crab Market and Kep Beach, resorts, restaurants and cafe’s line the coast, each with rows and rows of hammocks. Take a few hours, grab a drink, and relax on a hammock enjoying the picturesque view of the Gulf of Thailand.
5. Learn More Than You Ever Thought There Was to Know About Pepper at La Plantation Pepper Farm
The Kampot Pepper is to Cambodia what Champagne is to France: if it’s grown anywhere else, it’s just a pepper, but if it’s grown in Kampot, it’s a Kampot Pepper. It was the first Cambodian product to receive a Protected Geographical Indication (the same certification that protects regional products like Champagne).
Kampot Peppers are regarded as some of the best in the world, if not the best. The climate of the Kampot region has the perfect weather conditions for growing pepper and the quartz content of the soil gives Kampot pepper its strong flavor.
There are a bunch of pepper farms in the Kampot Region, and most offer free tours. I drove my motor bike to La Plantation Pepper Farm, about an hour from Kampot. It’s not that far distance-wise, but the roads are shit: the main road is scary with speeding buses and trucks, while the off-roads are dusty, unpaved passageways full of mini Grand Canyons.
After arriving and signing up for a tour, we were guided through the pepper farm and learned the ins and outs of pepper growing.
At the end of the tour, we are treated to a pepper tasting, something I never even knew was a thing. It consisted of smelling the various peppercorns and tasting the ground variety of each. It went from a little bit spicy to downright unbearable. Pepper isn’t meant to be eating a la carte.
6. Find the Secret lake
This lake isn’t quite a lake, and isn’t quite a secret, but it’s worth finding. First, Secret Lake is really a man-made dam. It was built using slave labor during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. Second, the name doesn’t come from it’s secret status, but because of the secret that it hides. The story is that the Khmer Rouge forced prisoners and captured villagers to build the dam. During the construction, thousands of Cambodians died or were killed by the violent regime and buried in mass graves beneath the lake. The “secret” refers to the mass graves that the lake covers.
I recommend enjoying Secret Lake on the way to or from the pepper farms. There are lakeside cafe’s and chill spots to relax that are worth experiencing.
With so many relaxing things to do in Kep, it's a great place to add to your Cambodia itinerary. Pairing it with Kampot makes for a great experience in southern Cambodia.
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