Luxury holidays in Kep
Residents and tourists abandoned Kep’s smart villas and grand mansions while civil war, the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese occupation took their toll, but since the 1990s, this raffishly charming seaside outpost has been re-emerging from its shell. The sandy stretches aren’t the country’s finest, or the jungle the most extensive, but anyone with a hankering for adventure, a taste for seafood and an eye for architecture will discover a pearl on sleepy shores, far from the tide of mass tourism. Cambodia’s ‘riviera’ could be the unexpected highlight of your trip.
When to go
Weather-wise, November to March is the perfect time to visit; book ahead, as hotel beds will be in short supply. Beaches will also be busy with off-duty locals at weekends. Kep is best avoided during the height of the wet season (July to October): nobody likes sunbathing in the rain.