Things to Do in Cambodia: A Sihanoukville Shore Excursion Guide

Sihanoukville is the kind of port call that quietly rewrites what you thought a day in Cambodia could look like. Most travellers picture Angkor Wat or the temples of Siem Reap when Cambodia comes up, but the south coast trades ancient stone for turquoise water without giving up any of the country’s character. Between palm-backed beaches, the mangrove waterways of Ream National Park, and a 21-metre bronze couple gazing out to sea, there is no shortage of things to do in Cambodia during your time ashore, and a Carnival port day is enough to get a genuine taste of it, so long as you know where to point yourself first.

This guide runs through the things to do in Cambodia that fit comfortably into a single port day, from an easy paddle through the mangroves to a longer heritage run inland, so you can pick a day that suits the way you actually like to travel rather than trying to squeeze in everything at once.

Arriving at the Sihanoukville cruise port

Unlike some of Cambodia’s neighbours in the region, Sihanoukville is a genuine deep-water port, so your ship ties up alongside rather than anchoring offshore, and there is no tender ride to build into your morning. From the port gate, it is roughly a fifteen- to twenty-minute drive into town and the closer beaches, a touch longer if you are heading out towards Ream National Park or the Statue of Love, both of which sit along the same coastal road.

Most Carnival port calls here run somewhere between six and eight hours ashore, which is a comfortable window for one proper excursion, whether that is a morning of kayaking through the mangroves or an afternoon at Otres Beach, with time left over for a wander through town. Sihanoukville packs in more variety than most one-day stops, so rather than trying to see it all, it is worth thinking about the kind of day you are after: easy beach and nature, or a longer cultural run inland.

It is worth knowing, too, that Sihanoukville has grown quickly in recent years, with a skyline of casinos and construction now visible from parts of the waterfront. It is not the sleepy backpacker town it once was, but step a short drive out of the centre, toward the national park, the quieter beaches or the coast road, and the things to do in Sihanoukville still feel a world away from the city itself.

Booking a Carnival Shore Excursion for Sihanoukville takes the guesswork out of the transport side of things, since every vehicle and guide is timed around your ship’s own schedule rather than the other way around.

Ready to lock in your day ashore? Browse Carnival Shore Excursions for Sihanoukville before you sail.

Sihanoukville highlights worth knowing before you go

Sihanoukville itself does not try too hard to impress you, and that is part of its appeal. It is a working port city with a relaxed, unpolished energy, and most Sihanoukville highlights sit just outside the centre rather than in it.

The one landmark that reliably stops guests in their tracks is the Statue of Love, on the road toward Ream. Officially the statue of Preah Thong and Neang Neak, it depicts a legendary Khmer couple said to have founded the ancient kingdom of Funan, cast in copper, standing 21 metres tall, and facing the sea toward the underwater palace where, as the story goes, Neang Neak’s father waited to bless their marriage. It is one of the largest statues of its kind in the country, and the combination of scale, folklore and coastline makes it a genuinely worthwhile few minutes off the bus.

Back in town, the Independence Monument, built in the early 1960s to mark Cambodia’s liberation from French rule, is a smaller but equally telling landmark, a reminder that this stretch of coast holds more history than its beach-town reputation lets on. Explore Sihanoukville Highlights at Carnival.

Kayaking through Ream National Park

If there is one activity that captures what makes this coastline different from anywhere else you might dock in Southeast Asia, it is a morning spent kayaking in Cambodia’s Ream National Park. About twenty minutes from town, Ream protects more than 200 square kilometres of mangrove forest, lowland jungle and largely untouched coastline, and paddling its quiet waterways is one of the better ways to see it up close.

Guides typically lead a leisurely paddle of around an hour along the mangrove river, past nipa palms and water willows, with a decent chance of spotting kingfishers, hawks and the odd curious macaque along the banks. The water is calm and flat, well suited to first-time paddlers, and it makes for a genuinely peaceful contrast to the beach scene back in town.

Beyond the kayaking itself, Ream is home to more than 150 bird species and a scattering of near-untouched islands offshore, so it rewards guests who enjoy nature at a slower pace as much as those chasing an active morning on the water. Ranger-led hikes into the forest are also available for guests who would rather explore on foot, though kayaking in Cambodia’s mangroves remains the park’s signature experience and the easiest to fit around a cruise schedule.

Carnival’s Ream National Park Kayaking Experience covers transport, a safety briefing and all gear, with a fresh coconut waiting at the end of your paddle.

Otres Beach and Sihanoukville’s beach scene

If you would rather spend your day horizontal, Otres Beach is the pick of Sihanoukville’s beaches, a long, easy-going stretch of sand a short drive from the port, backed by a string of relaxed beach bars where a sun lounger comes with the price of a drink. It is quieter and cleaner than the beaches directly in town and works well either as a half-day on its own or as the back half of a morning spent at Ream.

Independence Beach, closer to the centre, is the easier option if you would rather stay near the port, with beachside seafood shacks serving fresh crab and grilled fish just steps from the sand, a handy stop if lunch is as much a priority as the swim.

A day in Kampot: French colonial architecture and Kampot pepper

For guests keen to go further afield, Kampot is worth the trip. It sits roughly ninety minutes’ drive from the port, so the round trip takes around three hours of transit in total, making it best treated as a dedicated day built around Kampot itself, rather than paired with a beach or kayaking morning.

What you are driving for is one of the best-preserved examples of French colonial architecture in Cambodia. Kampot was the country’s main seaport under French rule, and its riverside centre still carries the yellow-washed shophouses and shuttered facades from that era, many now home to cafes and small hotels rather than sitting empty. A slow wander through the old town, camera in hand, is really all the itinerary this stop needs.

Once you are there, the things to do in Kampot centre on that same unhurried pace. Beyond the old town streets, a slow boat along the Kampot River at golden hour is a local favourite, and the riverside promenade makes for an easy stretch of the legs between stops. Kampot is also the source of Kampot pepper, considered among the finest in the world and grown on plantations just outside town, so a short pepper farm visit pairs naturally with an afternoon in the old town if your schedule allows, with most farms happy to walk you through the drying and grading process before you sample it yourself.

Kampot tour is not offered as a Carnival Shore Excursion, so it’s best arranged independently, with a private driver or taxi booked through the port information desk or your hotel the night before. So that you can keep a comfortable buffer to get back to the ship on time.

Sunset views from Wat Leu Pagoda

Back closer to the ship, Wat Leu sits on a hill on the edge of town and offers the best panoramic view of Sihanoukville and its coastline for the price of a short walk up the steps.

It is a fifteen-minute stop rather than a destination in its own right, but it is an easy add-on to a beach day or a city wander, and a good spot to get your bearings on a coastline that can otherwise feel spread out.

Where to eat seafood and Kampot pepper crab

Wherever your day takes you, save room for lunch. Fresh crab and squid, stir-fried with green Kampot peppercorns, is the signature dish of Cambodia’s south coast, and it turns up on menus from the beach shacks at Otres and Independence Beach right through to the restaurants lining Kampot’s riverside. It is fast to prepare, easy to share, and arguably the single best-value meal you will have on this stretch of coast, so it is worth building fifteen minutes of extra buffer into whichever excursion you choose.

Planning your day ashore

With Sihanoukville, it helps to pick a lane rather than try to cover the whole coast in one go. If you are after an easy, restorative day, pair a morning kayak through Ream National Park with an afternoon at Otres Beach; the two sit close enough together to combine comfortably. If culture and history interest you more than sand between your toes, a longer excursion to Kampot, with a stop at the Statue of Love on the way, gives you the fullest sense of the region in a single day.

However, you divide your time, booking through Carnival makes the logistics easy. Transport is coordinated door to door, local guides know exactly how long each stop should take, and you are back at the ship ready for the next leg of your cruise.

There is more genuine variety packed into a Sihanoukville port day than its reputation lets on, and a little planning ahead is what turns it from a good stop into one of the better days of your cruise.

Browse and book Carnival’s Southeast Asia cruise and Sihanoukville shore excursions before you sail.