Cambodia
Battambang
Angkorian hill temples, a bat-filled cave and a circus school, all a tuk-tuk ride through rice fields from a sleepy colonial grid.
Battambang is Cambodia's most likeable small city, a riverside grid of French shophouses dropped into the country's rice bowl. Its two best-known draws sit just outside town: Phnom Sampeau, the hill of the Khmer Rouge killing caves where a column of bats pours out of the cliff at dusk, and the bamboo train, a plank-and-axles platform that clatters along rural track. In between there is an arts scene far bigger than the town.
Suggested stay
2–3 days
Language
Khmer
Currency
KHR
Timezone
UTC+7
Why you'll love Battambang
The countryside Hilltop Angkorian ruins, rice-paper and fish-paste villages and a reservoir picnic spot, all within an hour of town by tuk-tuk.
Phnom Sampeau A pilgrimage hill with a golden stupa, a Khmer Rouge memorial cave and a nightly river of bats leaving at sunset.
The arts A circus school born out of the border refugee camps, galleries in old shophouses, and Cambodia's strongest creative scene outside the capital.
Old Battambang A compact colonial grid on the Sangkae River, an art deco market and a town you can cover on foot.
Best time to visit
Nov-Jan
30-33° days
12.926° N, 103.232° E
UTC+7 · Asia/Phnom Penh
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Weather & when to go to Battambang
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Nov-Jan
Watch for Feb-Apr extreme heat risk · Jun-Oct monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Battambang
Jun-Oct is the wet season, when afternoon downpours turn the countryside lanes to mud and the temple hills into hard work, and Mar-May stays dry but turns punishingly hot. Access cuts the other way: the river boat from Siem Reap only sails when the water is high, so the best-weather months are often the ones with no boat.
Top things to do in Battambang
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Phnom Sampeau - the killing caves and the bat exodus
history nature wildlife 👍 PopularA limestone hill southwest of town, topped by a golden pagoda and a cave where the Khmer Rouge pushed their victims through a hole in the roof; a memorial and a case of skulls sit at the bottom. At dusk a column of free-tailed bats streams out of the cliff face for close to an hour.
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The bamboo train - ride a norry along warped rural rails
off beaten path adventure 👍 PopularA bamboo platform on two axles, driven by a small engine at more speed than the buckled track deserves. The original working line into town is gone; the ride now runs on a purpose-built stretch out near Wat Banan, where the crew still lifts the whole thing off the rails when something comes the other way.
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Phare Ponleu Selpak - the circus school that trained Cambodia's performers
culture arts ⭐ Highly recommendedAn arts organisation founded by young Cambodians who learned to draw in the refugee camps on the Thai border, now a school teaching circus, music, drawing and animation to local children. Its big-top shows tell Khmer stories through acrobatics, and its graduates staff the circus that plays nightly in Siem Reap.
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Wat Banan - climb to a five-towered Angkorian temple
history scenic 👍 PopularAn eleventh-century hilltop temple south of town, reached up a steep staircase of well over three hundred steps. The five weathered towers get called a miniature Angkor Wat, and the view from the top runs out across rice fields to the Sangkae River.
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The countryside circuit - rice paper, prahok and bamboo sticky rice
food culture arts ⭐ Highly recommendedA tuk-tuk loop through the villages ringing town: women spreading rice paper over steaming cloth, kralan roasting in bamboo tubes over open fires, fermented fish paste in vats, dried banana and rice wine. It is the best half day here and the reason people stay an extra night.
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Ek Phnom - a collapsed Angkorian ruin beside a giant Buddha
historyNorth of town, an eleventh-century temple half fallen in on itself, with good lintel carving still readable among the rubble. A modern pagoda and an enormous white seated Buddha share the compound, and the road out passes rice-paper makers and a busy local picnic ground.
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Psar Nath - the art deco market at the centre of town
shopping culture artsA hulking mustard-yellow market building from the French years, still the commercial heart of Battambang. Produce and prahok fill the aisles, gold and fabric traders ring the outside, and the streets around it are where the town actually shops.
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Wat Kor village - century-old Khmer heritage houses
history culture artsA short ride south of the centre, a lane of tall wooden houses on stilts built by wealthy families before the war and lived in ever since. A couple are open to visitors, with descendants showing you the rooms, and the surrounding village is all fruit trees and quiet.
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The riverside shophouse galleries - Romcheik 5 and Sammaki
culture artsThe old French grid between the Sangkae and the market holds Battambang's gallery scene, from the contemporary collection at Romcheik 5 Artspace to the artist-run space at Sammaki. Walk it late in the afternoon, when the riverside fills with exercise classes, food carts and families.
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Battambang Provincial Museum - Angkorian stone from the province
historyA small colonial building on the riverfront holding sculpture gathered from Banan, Ek Phnom and the other sites nearby: lintels, standing Vishnus and naga balustrades, and a better collection than a town this size has any right to.
Best areas to stay in Battambang
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Riverside and the French quarter
First-time visitors $$Colonial shophouses along the Sangkae River
Explore hotels in Riverside and the French quarter →
Psar Nath quarter
Budget and early buses $Busy market grid with cheap rooms
Explore hotels in Psar Nath quarter →
Wat Kor
Quiet and heritage $$Wooden heritage houses among fruit trees
Explore hotels in Wat Kor →
Countryside west of town
Rice-field stays $$Rice fields under the temple hills
Explore hotels in Countryside west of town →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Battambang
Getting to & around Battambang
Getting there
No useful flights: Battambang is a road trip, roughly 3 hr by bus or minivan from Siem Reap and 5-6 hr from Phnom Penh, plus a seasonal river boat from Siem Reap
Coach
Battambang bus station
Buses and minivans run through the day from Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and the Thai border crossing at Poipet, and tuk-tuks meet every arrival.
Ferry
Riverside landing near the centre
The boat from Siem Reap down the Tonle Sap and up the Sangkae takes most of a day through flooded forest and stilt villages, and only runs when water levels allow.
Train
Battambang station
The Phnom Penh to Poipet railway passes through town, but passenger services have started and stopped repeatedly, so confirm before planning around one.
Drive
National Road 5 links Battambang to Phnom Penh and the Thai border, and Road 6 branches off for Siem Reap and Angkor.
Getting around
Tuk-tuk
The default here: drivers wait outside hotels and hire by the half or full day for the temple runs.
TBC
Moto taxi
Quicker for hops across town, and how most locals cover short distances.
TBC
Bicycle
The centre is flat and small, and the lanes out to Wat Kor and Ek Phnom are the reason to have one.
TBC
Walking
The colonial grid, the riverfront and Psar Nath sit within a few blocks of each other.
Free
Day trips from Battambang
Phnom Sampeau
Half dayCave hill and bat exodus
The classic late-afternoon run: climb past macaques to the golden stupa and the killing caves, then sit on the roadside at dusk while the bat column pours out of the cliff. Usually paired with Wat Banan earlier in the day.
Getting there
car | tour
About 30 min by tuk-tuk, 12 km southwest
Wat Banan and the bamboo train
Half dayHilltop temple and norry ride
Five Angkorian towers at the top of a long staircase, with the rebuilt bamboo train line running on the flat nearby. A cave shrine and a river swimming spot sit at the foot of the hill.
Getting there
car | tour
About 45 min by tuk-tuk, 25 km south
Ek Phnom and the craft villages
Half dayTemple and food villages
A ruined eleventh-century temple beside a giant Buddha, along a road lined with rice-paper drying racks, prahok vats and bamboo sticky rice fires. Go in the morning, while the villages are working.
Getting there
car | tour
About 30 min by tuk-tuk or bicycle, 11 km north
Kamping Puoy
Half dayReservoir and picnic spot
A long dam dug by forced labour under the Khmer Rouge, now where Battambang families eat on stilted platforms over the water. Lotus covers the shallows late in the year and hire boats potter out among them.
Getting there
car
About 1 hr by tuk-tuk, 35 km west
Pailin
Full dayGem-mining border town
The last Khmer Rouge stronghold, in wooded hills near the Thai border: worked-out ruby and sapphire diggings, the hilltop pagoda at Wat Phnom Yat and a waterfall or two. A long day, and more history than scenery.
Getting there
car | bus
About 2 hr by road, 85 km west
A little history of Battambang
Battambang takes its name from a legend about a lost stick, the black-wood cudgel of a farmer who briefly became king, and a statue of him still points out of a roundabout on the road into town. The province was Angkorian territory, as the hill temples at Banan and Ek Phnom show, but its modern shape came later: from 1795 it was ruled from Bangkok for more than a century, returning to Cambodia only in 1907. French administration turned the rice trade into money, and money into the shophouse grid and the deco market that still define the centre.
The twentieth century was hard on it. Thailand annexed the province again during the Second World War, the Khmer Rouge used the caves at Phnom Sampeau and dug the Kamping Puoy reservoir with forced labour, and the fighting in the northwest dragged on into the late 1990s, leaving one of Cambodia's worst landmine legacies. What followed is the surprise: artists coming back from the border camps founded a circus and arts school, and Battambang became the country's creative town.
Angkorian kings build the hill temple at Banan and the shrine at Ek Phnom
Battambang and its province pass to Siamese rule, governed from Bangkok for over a century
France recovers the province for Cambodia under a treaty with Siam
Rice-trade money builds the colonial grid and the art deco Psar Nath market
Thailand annexes Battambang again after the French-Thai war; it is returned in 1946
The Khmer Rouge empty the town, and the caves at Phnom Sampeau become an execution site
Forced labour digs the Kamping Puoy reservoir in the hills west of the city
Phare Ponleu Selpak is founded by young artists back from the refugee camps on the Thai border
The last Khmer Rouge holdouts around Pailin give up, ending decades of insecurity in the northwest
Know before you go
Payment
Cash preferred
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Workable
Power
Type A / B / C / F / G
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+855
Extreme heat risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
Monsoon flooding risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
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FAQs about Battambang
▸ When is the best time to visit Battambang?
November to January is the pick: dry, a little cooler, and the countryside still green from the rains. March to May stays dry but turns fiercely hot, and June to October is the wet season, with heavy afternoon rain and muddy lanes. The bat flight at Phnom Sampeau happens at dusk year round, whatever the season.
▸ How many days do you need in Battambang?
Two nights is the standard: an afternoon for Phnom Sampeau and the bats, a morning for the countryside circuit and the temples, and time left for the market and the galleries. A third night suits anyone who wants Kamping Puoy or Pailin, or simply a slower pace.
▸ Is the bamboo train still running?
Yes, though not on the old working line into town, which went when the railway was rebuilt. The ride most visitors take now runs on a purpose-built stretch of track out near Wat Banan, with the same bamboo platforms and the same lift-it-off-the-rails routine when two meet head on.
▸ How do you get from Siem Reap to Battambang?
Buses and minivans take about three hours on a decent road and run through the day. The alternative is the boat, most of a day down the Tonle Sap and up the Sangkae through flooded forest and floating villages: slow, uncomfortable and memorable, and only running when the water is high enough.
▸ Is Battambang worth visiting after Angkor?
Yes, because it is nothing like it. Battambang is small, flat and unhurried, its sights are half-day tuk-tuk runs into farmland rather than a temple marathon, and it has an arts scene Siem Reap does not. Come for the countryside and the town, not for more Angkorian stone.
▸ Is Battambang safe?
The town is calm and low-key, needing only the usual small-city care after dark and on the back of a moto. The real caution is rural: this is one of Cambodia's most landmine-affected provinces, so stay on tracks that are obviously used and never wander off into scrub or fields alone.
More in Cambodia
Angkor Wat (Siem Reap)
The largest religious monument ever built, at the heart of a lost capital you can spend three days getting lost in.
✓ best Nov-FebPhnom Penh
A riverfront capital that asks something of you: a gold-roofed palace, a brutal recent history and the country's best eating, all within a few blocks.
✓ best Dec-Feb