Phnom Penh to Battambang: The Detour Most People Skip

Battambang is Cambodia's second city and almost nobody on the standard circuit stops there, which is the main argument for going.

The geography is the thing people get wrong. Battambang is not on National Road 6 between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap - it sits west, on National Road 5. That sounds like a detour, and it is, but a small one:

Phnom Penh to Battambang is about 290 km and five hours on NR5.

Battambang to Siem Reap is about 170 km and three to three and a half hours.

That is roughly eight and a half hours of road against the six you would spend going direct. Two and a half extra hours buys you a whole city, and the direct run is six hours of nothing.

It also sits in the right place for the history. Phnom Sampeau outside Battambang has a killing cave with a memorial at the bottom of the shaft, and meeting that before Tuol Sleng - or after, if you are heading south - gives the Khmer Rouge story a shape that Phnom Penh alone does not.

Our six-day and seven-day Cambodia itineraries both put Battambang here for exactly this reason.

Bus is the default. Several operators run air-conditioned coaches on NR5, roughly USD 8-20 depending on the operator and the seat, about five hours with a rest stop. Book a day or two ahead in the November-to-February peak; the morning of is usually fine otherwise.

Minivan is faster and less comfortable, four to four and a half hours if the driver is in a hurry, which is not always something to wish for.

Private car with driver runs from about USD 80-110 and is the obvious choice for two or more people. It also lets you stop, and there are things to stop for: Oudong, the royal capital for more than 250 years until 1866, is 40 km out of Phnom Penh on the way, and Kampong Chhnang has pottery villages and a floating community on the Tonle Sap.

The train. Cambodia's rehabilitated railway runs Phnom Penh to Battambang and on to Poipet a few days a week. It is slower than the bus and much more pleasant - check current days and times locally, because the schedule changes.

Leave in the morning whichever way you go. Arriving in daylight matters, and NR5 after dark with livestock and unlit motorbikes is not the part of Cambodia to experience.

Phnom Sampeau at dusk, and build the day around it. Millions of wrinkle-lipped bats pour out of a cliff cave in an unbroken ribbon for about half an hour. There is no build-up: nothing, then a stream that does not stop. People sit at the roadside stalls below with a drink and watch it. It is free and it is one of the best things in the country.

The same hill holds a killing cave - a Khmer Rouge execution site where victims were thrown through a shaft in the rock - with a memorial and a reclining Buddha at the bottom. It is quiet, unvisited and harder in its way than Choeung Ek.

The bamboo train (norry) is a bamboo platform on wheels with a small motor, run down a single track. When two meet, the lighter one is lifted off the rails by hand. Say plainly that the original line at O Dambong was replaced by a purpose-built tourist track at Banan - the carts and the lifting ritual are real, the route is for visitors, and it is still twenty good minutes.

The town itself is the quietest place on the circuit: French shophouses along the Sangker river, a working market, and an arts scene - Phare Ponleu Selpak, the school the Cambodian circus came out of, is here and can be visited.

Banan temple and Ek Phnom are eleventh-century and almost empty.

The Sangker river boat to Siem Reap is the best transfer in Cambodia and most people never hear about it. It runs six to nine hours down the river and across the top of the Tonle Sap, through floating villages and flooded forest, and it is a day out rather than a journey.

It only runs when the water is high - roughly August to January - and in the dry months it either does not run or gets stuck. Check before planning around it. Seats are limited and it is worth booking ahead.

If the water is low, the road to Siem Reap is three to three and a half hours and perfectly fine.

How long to stay. One night is enough for the bamboo train and the bats. Two nights lets you add Banan, the countryside and Phare Ponleu Selpak without hurrying, and Battambang is a pleasant place to do nothing for a day.

Direction. Most people do Siem Reap → Battambang → Phnom Penh, which puts Angkor on the freshest days and the Khmer Rouge sites last. Coming the other way works too, and the Phnom Penh to Siem Reap options compare the direct route if you would rather skip the detour.