Batdambang Travel Guide

Battambang, Cambodia is a place not frequently visited by tourists coming from Thailand. Most of them go immediately from the Thai-Cambodian border (Aranya Parthet) to Siem Reap. However, Battambang is well worth visiting for a day and a night. You can get there from Aranya Parthet with a taxi to Sisiphon (about 300 bath) and then a second cab from Sisiphon to Battambang (about 200 bath). It's a very cosy little city, with nice French colonial buldings, and very very nice people. From Battambang on you can travel to Siem Reap either by boat or by bus. I strongly recommend the boat. It takes about six hours to get to Siem Reap by boat, but it's a very nice ride on the river. Certainly in the morning when you leave Battambang, the sun ascending the sky above the river is just amazing. And, arriving in Siem Reap you will pass by the floating city, a "tourist attration", but you will have seen it entirely from your boat.

Battambang, founded in the 11th century, is Cambodia's second-largest city. For centuries it was the main commercial hub of Siam's Eastern Provinces. It is the former capital of Monton Khmer. The city lies in the heart of the Northwest and until the war years was the leading rice-producing province of the country. As with much of Cambodia, the French architecture is an attractive bonus of the city. The French has left most of its influence on the Cambodian land.