Kampot

Kampot is a charming little riverside town in southern Cambodia, with crumbling buildings and a slow pace of life. This isn't a town with a lot of tourist sights or must-see attractions, but that's what we loved about it. It's a place to relax and unwind, stroll along the riverfront, watch fishermen, cycle around town and embrace the laidback vibe of the local community.

For such a small town, Kampot has a large expat community and there are a surprising number of great Western restaurants here. We loved pizza at Mea Culpa, barbeque at Rusty Keyhole and breakfast at Cafe Espresso.

One thing that Kampot is famous for, is pepper. You can take a tuk tuk or motorbike to visit one of the numerous pepper farms, where you can walk around the grounds and sample the different types of pepper. We went to Sothy's farm.

And you don't have to travel far out of Kampot to get into the beautiful surrounding countryside. On our last night, we took one of the $5 boat rides along the river and spent 2 hours enjoying the view and observing life along the river, the perfect end to a relaxing week.

For a fun day trip from Kampot, have a look at my post on Kep's crab market.