Field note · Cambodia · Kampot Province

Kampot

Kampot sits on National Road 3, not on the Phnom Penh–Sihanoukville expressway, so almost everyone arrives in a 15-seat minivan that drops at its company's own office downtown; the daily Royal Railway train from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville stops at a 1967 station five minutes out of town and is the slowest and best way in; a new speed ferry now runs from the river mouth to Koh Rong; and inside town it is remorks called on PassApp, a five-dollar rented scooter, and the flat walk along the riverside.

Researched: 22 September 2026
Reviewed: not yet
Ways of moving: 12, 47 sources
Not confirmed: 8
Fares seen: 2022–2026

How transport works here

12 ways of moving, each with its rule

We confirmed ten ways of moving to, from or around Kampot: one by rail and cable, four by road, one by water, two hired or on demand and two under your own steam, from 47 sources. Two entries are not a service at all but a rule that decides whether travel happens: a permit, a closure, a border, a season or an authority's say-so. One of them runs only on demand or when the seats are full, so there is no timetable to show; the rule is written where the timetable would be. One needs a phone call or a message before you turn up.

The fares were seen in 2022 to 2026; a fare from an older year is a floor, not a price. We rate 3 of the 12 high confidence, our own judgement of the sources. The entry was checked on 22 September 2026, and ends with eight things we could not confirm.

One way

By rail and cable

train

Royal Railway Southern Line, Phnom Penh – Kampot – Sihanoukville

Kampot railway station on National Road 3, about 10.6267, 104.1891, roughly 2 km northeast of the durian roundabout

A 1967 New Khmer Architecture station with a zig-zag red-tiled roof, about five minutes out of downtown by remork. One train a day each way, calling at Takeo, Kep and Kampot between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. The station ticket window is open roughly 08:00–16:00 daily and selling there is more reliable than the website; the operator's booking site is royalrailway.easybook.com and the office phone is +855 78 888 582. You can put a vehicle on the train – roughly US$5 for a small motorbike, US$10 for a big bike, US$14 for a car, though that is often only sold Phnom Penh–Sihanoukville. Trains run late, sometimes very late, and the northbound one reaches Phnom Penh after 20:30 when tuk-tuks are thin.

When: Daily in both directions, one train each way. Southbound leaves Phnom Penh 07:00 and Kampot 11:15 for Sihanoukville. Northbound leaves Sihanoukville 14:00, calls Kampot 16:15, Kep 16:37.
Takes: Phnom Penh to Kampot 3h 51m; Kampot to Sihanoukville 2h 34m; Kampot to Phnom Penh 4h 24m; Kampot to Kep 22 minutes
Fare 2026: Phnom Penh–Kampot US$10 normal class, US$17 first class. Kampot–Sihanoukville US$7 normal, US$17 first. Kampot–Kep US$6 normal, US$17 first. Prices seen in the operator's own booking system in September 2026 for late-September and December dates.

SeasonYear-round, Monday to Sunday. Holiday weekends and Khmer New Year fill first class first – first-class seat counts on the booking engine drop to single figures while hundreds of normal-class seats remain. Bookingroyalrailway.easybook.com, or at the station counter, which local advice prefers. Phone +855 78 888 582 / +855 78 888 583, or the Kampot station on +855 99 222 566. Run byRoyal Railway Plc (Royal Railway Cambodia), the country's only passenger rail operator.

4 ways

By road

minibus

Phnom Penh minivans and buses on National Road 3

Phnom Penh to Kampot, 148–150 km on National Road 3, dropping at each company's own office in downtown Kampot

The workhorse is the 15-seat VIP van. Kim Seng Express runs one roughly every 30 minutes from Phnom Penh between 05:00 and 11:30; E-Booking Express runs vans on the hour plus a 45-seat bus at 05:00 and sleeping buses at 05:15 and 05:45. Capitol Tours, Vibol Express, Ekareach Express and VET Air Bus (Vireak Buntham) also run the route. Vans set down at the operator's own office rather than a single terminal, so ask which street you will end on – Giant Ibis and Champa Mekong are both on Street 724, and there is a car and share-taxi rank near the Olympic Stadium. Share taxis from Psar Dang Kor in Phnom Penh leave when full at about US$10 a seat, US$50 for the whole car. Do not expect the expressway: Kampot is off it, and the coaches take Road 3 through Kandal, Kampong Speu and Takeo.

When: Phnom Penh to Kampot: Kim Seng roughly half-hourly 05:00–11:30; E-Booking hourly 05:00–11:30. Kampot to Phnom Penh: Kim Seng 06:30, 07:00, 07:30, 08:00, 08:30, 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 14:30 and 18:30; E-Booking hourly 06:30–11:30; Capitol 07:15 and 09:00; VET 08:30; Vibol 11:30.
Takes: 3 hours advertised on the vans, 4 hours on the 35-seat Air Bus. Vireak Buntham sells one 04:00 departure from Phnom Penh as 2 hours. Wikivoyage's older figure of 2½ to 5 hours depending on traffic still describes the spread.
Fare 2026: US$8 walk-up on a VIP van, US$6.40 booked online; US$7.00–7.20 on a full-size bus; US$11 (US$8.80 online) on an E-Booking sleeper; US$9 on the VET Air Bus; US$12.50 on the Vireak Buntham express. Seen on BookMeBus, September 2026.

SeasonYear-round. Fares rise for everyone – there is no separate foreigner price on this route – around Khmer New Year, Pchum Ben and other public holidays. Bookingbookmebus.com, camboticket.com or any hotel or travel shop in town for about a dollar's commission; book a day ahead in the high season to be sure of a seat. Kim Seng service centre 016 786 000 / 066 786 000 / 012 786 000. Run byKim Seng Express, E-Booking Express, Capitol Tours, Vibol Express, Ekareach Express, VET Air Bus / Vireak Buntham, Champa Mekong.

bus

Giant Ibis, Phnom Penh and the Siem Reap night bus

Giant Ibis office, Street 724, Krong Kampot, opposite Kampot Park near ABA Bank, by the old bridge on the way to the durian roundabout

The one premium operator on the route and the exception to the rule that everything ends at the central bus station. In Phnom Penh it leaves from its own terminal on Street 106 by the Night Market, with free pickup from partner hotels; be there 30 minutes early if you are not being collected. The Kampot office numbers are 095 666 809 and 096 999 3333. The overnight Siem Reap service uses a sleeper coach with bunks 1.8 m long and the only onboard toilet in the fleet – it makes no bathroom stops, only driver-swap stops – and there is no hotel pickup for night departures.

When: Phnom Penh to Kampot 08:00 and 14:45. Kampot to Phnom Penh 08:30, 14:45 and 19:00. Siem Reap to Kampot overnight at 22:30; Kampot to Siem Reap overnight at 19:00. Phnom Penh to Kep 08:00 and 14:45.
Takes: 4 hours Phnom Penh to Kampot over 150 km; about 11 hours on the Siem Reap night bus
Fare 2024: US$8 was the last published Phnom Penh–Kampot fare on Wikivoyage; Giant Ibis does not post fares on its route pages and the ticket is not sold through BookMeBus, so confirm at booking.

SeasonYear-round. Its Bangkok services are a separate matter – the Thai land border has been closed indefinitely since the July 2025 conflict. Bookinggiantibis.com, or any Kampot travel agent or hotel. Run byGiant Ibis Transport.

minibus

Sihanoukville and Kep minivans

Kampot to Sihanoukville on National Road 3 via Prey Nob, and the short hop east to Kep

Kampot Transports and Rith Travel Tour run the coast road in vans; this is the route where Sihanoukville's boom and bust shows, because the road is only partly rebuilt and local advice still calls stretches of it bad. Kampot Transports also runs the only scheduled Kampot–Kep service, twice a day, which is why locals say there is no cheap way between the two towns. Tickets from the operator's office, a hotel or online. Coming the other way, most Sihanoukville departures are late morning. For Kep you can also ride the 16:15 train to Prey Thum station, but it is 10 km north of Kep town.

When: Kampot to Sihanoukville 08:00, 08:30 and 10:30. Sihanoukville to Kampot 10:30 and 11:30. Kampot to Kep 08:30 and 10:30.
Takes: 2 to 2½ hours to Sihanoukville, 30 minutes to Kep. Two to four hours to Sihanoukville is realistic when the road is poor.
Fare 2026: US$10 a seat Kampot–Sihanoukville, US$5 Kampot–Kep (September 2026). A share taxi from the Sihanoukville market is about US$10 a head or US$50 for the car. Kampot–Kep by tuk-tuk is about US$10 one way, US$20 return with waiting, or US$15 for a car.

SeasonYear-round; the coast road is slowest and roughest in the June–September rains. Bookingbookmebus.com, or at the company office in town. Run byKampot Transports, Rith Travel Tour, Vibol Express, Champa Mekong.

combined transfer

Kampot – Ha Tien – Phu Quoc through ticket

Kampot to the Prek Chak border by Cambodian minivan, across on foot, Vietnamese minivan to Ha Tien, then the Ha Tien ferry port for Phu Quoc

Sold as one ticket by agencies on both sides and bought once. Westbound, Ha Tien Xanh and similar agencies in Ha Tien run vans at 08:00, 10:30, 13:00 and 15:30 to Kampot and Kep; the Cambodian end is Champa Mekong Travel and Tours on Street 724 in Kampot. Eastbound, Champa Mekong runs Kampot to Ha Tien at 10:30, 13:30 and later. The company collects passports before the border and carries them through both sets of formalities, which is slower than doing it yourself – travelling independently by tuk-tuk to the border and picking up transport on the far side is faster if you are not in a hurry to be looked after. The Phu Quoc leg is a separate fast ferry from Ha Tien port, and on a through ticket the ferry voucher is handed over at the terminal. Total distance Ha Tien to Kampot is about 47 km.

When: Ha Tien to Kampot four vans a day; Kampot to Ha Tien two or three a day. Superdong and Phu Quoc Express run about six Ha Tien–Phu Quoc sailings daily between them.
Takes: About 2 hours Kampot to Ha Tien plus border time; 1h 15m to 1h 30m on the fast ferry to Bai Vong on Phu Quoc, longer on the car ferry
Fare 2026: Ha Tien to Kampot or Kep US$16 a person with Ha Tien Xanh (2026); older Wikivoyage figures are US$19 for a minibus from Ha Tien to Kampot and US$12 for the ticket bought at an Oasis Bar agency. Ha Tien–Phu Quoc fast ferry about 230,000 dong, car ferry 165,000 dong plus 100,000 dong for a motorcycle. The Kampot–Phu Quoc through minivan was US$18 in February 2020.

SeasonYear-round; the ferry is the weather-dependent link. Bookinghatienxanh.com, Champa Mekong's Street 724 office, or any Kampot travel agent. Run byChampa Mekong Travel and Tours (Kampot end); Ha Tien Xanh and other Ha Tien agencies; Superdong and Phu Quoc Express on the ferry.

One way

By water

speedboat

Kampot International Tourism Port to Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem

The port at the mouth of the Kampot River, about 15 minutes downstream of town by road, out to Koh Rong Samloem and Koh Rong

This is new and not in most guidebooks: rather than backtracking to Sihanoukville, you can now reach the islands straight from Kampot. Two operators use the river mouth – G.T.V.C. Speed Ferry, whose office is downtown and who run a free shuttle bus out to the pier at The Bay Boat jetty, and Vireak Buntham Speed Ferry (formerly Buva Sea) from the International Tourism Port itself. Seating is unassigned and boats fill, so book ahead. Parking at the pier is 2,000 riel a day for a motorbike, 15,000 riel for a car. If the sea is too rough for the Kampot run, G.T.V.C. will usually bus you to Sihanoukville port instead, about 2½ hours, and sail from there. There is no boat at all from Kampot to Phu Quoc or anywhere in Vietnam.

When: One sailing a day each way. Kampot 09:30, reaching the islands 12:00–12:30; back from the islands to arrive Kampot about 17:30.
Takes: 2 hours to Koh Rong Samloem, 2h 30m to Koh Rong's Koh Touch pier, 2h 45m to Long Set beach
Fare 2026: G.T.V.C. introductory price US$15 one way, US$30 return including the free port shuttle, rising to US$30 one way from November 2026. The port's own published rate is US$30 one way, US$60 return.

SeasonDaily, but the run can stop for weeks in the August–October rains and on any day the sea is unsafe. BookingBook in advance through the G.T.V.C. office in town or kampotinternationaltourismport.com; ferries do sell out. Run byG.T.V.C. Speed Ferry; Vireak Buntham Speed Ferry (ex Buva Sea).

2 ways

Rules, permits and closures

border crossing

Prek Chak – Xa Xia, the Vietnamese border

Kampot southeast past Kep and Kampong Trach to Prek Chak, then Xa Xia and Ha Tien, about 7 km further on the Vietnamese side

The coastal crossing for anyone heading to Ha Tien or Phu Quoc. The trap is the visa: Cambodia's e-visa is valid only at Bavet, Cham Yeam, Poipet and Tropaeng Kreal, so entering Cambodia here means buying a visa on arrival for US$35 in clean US dollars, with fingerprints and a bag x-ray. Touts offer to expedite for US$38 and do not speed anything up, and a health official may ask for a US$1 fee that does not exist. You may leave Cambodia on an e-visa at any crossing, so the problem is one-directional. Motorbike taxis from Kampot to the border ask US$8, from Kep US$5, from Kampong Trach US$5; the road varies from bumpy tarmac to packed dirt and is very dusty in the dry season. Vietnamese drivers now wait inside the Cambodian side to poach passengers – a ride into Ha Tien should be US$3–4.

When: Daytime hours; vans and motorbike taxis through the morning and early afternoon
Takes: About 2 hours Kampot to the border by motorbike; allow an hour for formalities
Fare 2024: Cambodian visa on arrival US$35; Vietnamese e-visa arranged in advance. Motorbike taxi Kampot to the border US$8, Kep to the border US$5, border to Ha Tien town US$3–4.

SeasonYear-round; the unpaved stretches are dusty in the dry season and slow in the rains. BookingNone for the crossing. Vietnamese e-visa online in advance; Cambodian e-visa at evisa.gov.kh is no use for entry here. Run byCambodian and Vietnamese immigration.

service status

Wet and dry seasons, and why Kampot is not on the expressway

National Road 3 and the coast road; the Kampot River bridges

Cambodia has two seasons, not four. November to March is relatively cool and windy and is the busiest time here; April and May are hot and dry with temperatures up to 40°C; June to September is the wet green season. The single most misread fact about getting to Kampot is the expressway: the Phnom Penh–Sihanoukville Expressway opened on 1 October 2022 and halved the six-hour drive to Sihanoukville, but it does not serve Kampot. Giant Ibis labels its Phnom Penh–Sihanoukville route "expressway direct" and its Phnom Penh–Kampot route "scenic Road 3", and the Kampot buses still take Road 3 through Kandal, Kampong Speu and Takeo. Bus safety in Cambodia is a real problem – night services are the riskiest, and Giant Ibis and Mekong Express have the best records. In town, three bridges cross the river: the Korean-built Kampong Bay bridge in the middle is the only one trucks and cars use and the only one with pavements; the old bridge and the railway bridge are not for walking. The road out to the caves can flood in heavy rain, when you walk the last stretch.

When: Wet season June to September; hot and dry April to May; cool and dry November to March
Takes: Allow extra time on the Sihanoukville coast road in the rains
Fare 2022: Expressway tolls, which Kampot traffic does not pay, start at US$0.08 per km for a carSeen in 2022: a floor, not a price.

SeasonJune to September wet, April to May hot, November to March cool and dry. Run byMinistry of Public Works and Transport; China Road and Bridge Corporation operates the expressway.

2 ways

Hired, booked and on demand

tuk tuk

Remorks, motodups and the ride-hailing apps

Everywhere in town, the bus offices, the railway station, the port and out to Kep

The remork – a cart towed behind a motorbike, seating up to four – is the default. Drivers wait at the durian roundabout, the old market and outside every bus office, and you can flag one anywhere. Use PassApp or Grab rather than haggling: both work in Kampot now, PassApp is usually cheaper and is cash-only unless you hold a Cambodian ABA account, and the app spares you explaining the destination. A motodup, a motorbike taxi, is cheaper again for one person. Agree the fare before getting in on anything not called through an app, and carry small notes – exact change is scarce.

When: On demand all day; thinner after the riverside bars close
Takes: 5 to 10 minutes across town; about 5 minutes to the railway station; an hour to Kep
Fare 2026: From about US$0.75 for a short remork hop and US$0.50 for a motodup; about US$10 to Kep one way, US$20 return with the driver waiting; a full day of a remork in the area is US$12–25. A PassApp remork Kampot to Kep is about US$10.

SeasonYear-round. BookingPassApp or Grab app, or pay the driver cash. Run byOwner-drivers; PassApp and Grab.

tour package

Bokor mountain, the caves and the pepper farm circuit

Bokor National Park; the limestone caves on the Kep road; the pepper farms and Secret Lake east and north of town

The Bokor turning is 8 km from Kampot on Road 3 heading towards Sihanoukville – not the Road 3 heading to Phnom Penh – marked by a large welcome plaque, with the ranger station just up the road. There is no park entrance fee, so a tour saying the fee is included is telling you nothing. From the gate it is 32 km and about 40 minutes of smooth sealed road to the hill station at 1,101 m, with a petrol station and mini-mart at the top entrance and coffee shops halfway. For the caves, drive towards Kep, turn left after the first bridge and keep asking – the quarry caves, Phnom Chhngok and the cave wat at Wat Phnom Sorsia are strung along that road, and Climbodia runs the climbing and caving version. The pepper farms – La Plantation, Bo Tree, Farmlink and the Secret Lake circuit – sit north and east of town on the same loop, and most day tours chain the caves, a pepper farm and the salt fields together.

When: Daily departures, mostly morning, from agencies around the durian circle and the riverside
Takes: About six hours for Bokor from Kampot, most of it in the vehicle; a full day for the caves-and-pepper loop
Fare 2026: US$15–30 for a Bokor day trip by car or van including lunch; older quotes were US$10–15. Guides at the caves ask about a dollar. Park entry itself is free.

SeasonYear-round. Popokvil waterfall only runs in the wet season; the summit is frequently in cloud, and it is cold enough at night to need warm clothes. BookingAt any agency in town, usually a day ahead; several will collect you from your guesthouse. Run byKampot travel agencies; Climbodia for caving and climbing.

2 ways

On foot, by bike, or otherwise

scooter hire

Scooters, dirt bikes and quad buggies

Town, the pepper farms, the caves on the Kep road, and the 32 km climb up Bokor

Hire shops cluster near the durian traffic circle and almost every guesthouse will arrange one. The standard machine is a small automatic 100–125 cc, which takes about thirty seconds to learn if you can ride a bicycle and does roughly an hour per litre of petrol. For Bokor or the back roads, hire a proper dirt bike instead – a 125 cc up the mountain is described locally as back-breaking. Named operators include Kampot City Services, Bison Tours, Best Motorcycle Rentals and Kampot Quad Bike. Note that Cambodia legally requires a Cambodian driving licence; an international permit is not accepted, and insurance may not cover you without one. You must return the machine to the shop you took it from.

When: Daily through the day
Takes: Bokor summit about 40 minutes from the Road 3 entrance; Kep 30 minutes; the Ha Tien border about 2 hours
Fare 2026: US$4–5 a day for a 100–125 cc automatic (US$5 in 2026, from US$5 on Wikivoyage), under US$12 a day for a big dirt bike, about US$14 a day for a 250 cc in Kep, from US$40 for half a day on a quad buggy. Petrol about US$1 a litre. Cars US$45–75 a day from the bus station rank.

SeasonYear-round; the Bokor road is often fogged or raining at the top and the temperature drops, so carry a jacket. BookingWalk in, or ask your guesthouse. Run byKampot City Services, Bison Tours, Best Motorcycle Rentals, Kampot Quad Bike and most guesthouses.

bicycle hire

Bicycles

The riverside promenade, the old French market, the new Kampong Bay bridge and the flat countryside

Hire shops near the durian circle, plus most guesthouses, several of which lend bikes free to guests. The town is small and flat, which makes this the natural way to move around, and the new Kampong Bay bridge has a pavement on both sides and is the only bridge here a pedestrian or cyclist should be on – not the old bridge and not the railway bridge. Riding up Bokor is possible but the sensible version is putting the bike in a vehicle going up and riding down.

When: Daily
Takes: Anywhere in town in 10 to 15 minutes
Fare 2026: About US$2 a day in 2026; Wikivoyage still quotes from US$1 a day

SeasonYear-round; heavy afternoon rain June to September. BookingWalk in. Run byHire shops near the durian traffic circle; guesthouses.

Not confirmed

What we could not find out

8 things the researcher looked for and did not find, in their own words, with where to ask instead. None of this goes into the planner; it stays here until someone confirms it.

01
The brief says the passenger train runs at weekends. It does not: Royal Railway's own booking engine sells the 07:00 Phnom Penh departure and the 14:00 Sihanoukville departure on every date probed, midweek and weekend alike, and the operator's own page gives working days as Monday to Sunday. What varies is a second service on some weekends and holidays.
02
The brief treats the new expressway as something that changed Kampot. It did not directly – the Phnom Penh–Sihanoukville Expressway bypasses Kampot, which is still reached on National Road 3. Its effect on Kampot is second-hand: faster Phnom Penh–Sihanoukville running, and a Sihanoukville that empties past Kampot rather than through it.
03
The Crab Shuttle, the converted fishing boat that sailed Kampot to Kep in 2h 20m from the riverside in front of Rikitikitavi, appears to be gone: its page on kep-cambodia.com now returns 404 and Wikivoyage has flagged the link dead since November 2024. No replacement Kampot–Kep boat was found. Rabbit Island boats still run, but from Kep beach pier, not Kampot – about US$8–10 return as part of a tour, or roughly US$20 for a shared boat if you are at the pier before 09:00.
04
Giant Ibis publishes no fares on its own route pages and its Kampot tickets are not sold through BookMeBus, so the US$8 figure is the last one Wikivoyage recorded, not a 2026 price. Confirm at the Street 724 office or on giantibis.com.
05
Sorya, Hua Lin, Paramount Angkor and Kampot Express all appear on Wikivoyage's Phnom Penh–Kampot list but none of them showed inventory on BookMeBus for September 2026. They may still run from their own Phnom Penh offices; treat the surviving online operators (Kim Seng, E-Booking, Capitol, Vibol, VET/Vireak Buntham, Giant Ibis) as the reliable set.
06
No published tariff exists for Kampot remorks. The figures here are what a local site and Wikivoyage report travellers paying; PassApp's meter is the only fixed price in town.
07
Opening hours for the Prek Chak–Xa Xia border were not confirmed from any official source. Every account is daytime-only and van departures stop by mid-afternoon.
08
The Kampot International Tourism Port has a stated ambition to run boats to Trat in Thailand. Nothing indicates that has started, and with the Thai land border closed since July 2025 it should not be planned around.

In the planner

What the planner can route today

The options above live on the place page, not in the departure board: a boat that comes when you phone has no time to show. What the board can do for Kampot is this.

Y: Scheduled flightsPhu Quoc Island (PQC), 51 km
N: Trains and coachesno timetable feed known for this country
Y: FerriesKampot Komchai Ferry, 7 km; sailings estimated
Y: Driving and taxiOpenStreetMap roads; cab fare from the country band
N: Bike and scooter shareno share feed known
N: Cruisesno open itinerary source anywhere

Y routable now · F found, not yet implemented · N no source known. Nearest place with more: Phú Quốc, 39 km.