Why the luxury travel spotlight is shining on Cambodia right now

Imagine ziplining across a 400m stretch of lush rainforest to your resort’s lounge. Or enjoying a private helicopter ride over Angkor Wat, taking in the incredible sight of the ancient temple complex unfolding beneath you. How about sipping a cocktail crafted by Asia’s best mixologists while perched 37 floors above bustling Phnom Penh?

Perhaps you picture yourself on a luxury yacht, gliding through pristine waters to discover hidden island coves, then taking a surreal nighttime swim in waters lit aglow by bioluminescent plankton. 

These and scores of other extraordinary experiences await intrepid travellers exploring Cambodia. Thailand has long been the go-to destination for Southeast Asian luxury travel — hello, The White Lotus Season 3 — but Cambodia seems poised to wrangle some of that attention away from its bigger, wealthier, more developed neighbour.

Hospitality is turning up

The country is currently having a moment. In late February 2025, LVMH-owned jewellery brand Bvlgari held its 140th anniversary celebration at Angkor Thom. The celebrity-studded event took place against the backdrop of the iconic Bayon Temple, made famous in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. 

Earlier that month, Rosewood Phnom Penh held the capital city’s first-ever Cocktail Festival. Over two nights at the hotel’s Sora Sky Bar, the sold-out event featured seven international cocktail bars alongside seven homegrown establishments. Among the international retinue were Hong Kong’s Bar Leone (Asia’s Best Bar 2024), Shanghai’s Speak Low, and Seoul’s Alice Cheongdam. 

From Sora, the view of Phnom Penh’s skyline reveals a flurry of construction. There’s a tower crane on almost every city block. The big hotel chains are moving in: Pan Pacific, The Ritz-Carlton, and Shangri-La. They will join stalwarts such as Hyatt Regency, Raffles, Rosewood, and Sofitel. Thirty kilometres south, the US$1.5 billion ($2 billion) Techo Takhmao International Airport (TIA) is set to commence operations later this year.

Clearly, the city is in a race to become ASEAN’s new hotspot. The country as a whole welcomed almost seven million visitors in 2024, with many of those heading straight to Siem Reap, bypassing the capital altogether. But Phnom Penh’s growing luxury lifestyle scene — including events like the Cocktail Festival — could change all that. 

“We launched our quest to be part of the World’s 50 Best Bars three years ago,” explains Rosewood’s managing director, Daniel Simon. “We started by inviting the top 50 Bars (to do pop-ups) here. When we hosted Paradiso from Barcelona, we had a group of Spanish guests who claimed they couldn’t get into Paradiso, but they were welcome to enjoy their drinks with us. So there’s that connection. The connection that we make with guests… is luxury to us.” 

That spark lit the flame for the Cocktail Festival. “The spirit of collaboration and community we witnessed really showed what this festival was all about,” enthuses KT Lam, Sora’s Bar manager. “International and local talents mingled, shared techniques, and pushed creative boundaries together.”

Elsewhere in the city, the buzzy Post Office Square area is finding fans with those in the know, like Liny Liem, Rosewood’s assistant communications manager. “(The neighbourhood is) surrounded by charming French colonial buildings. One of my favourites is Cin Cin, a new Italian spot known for its delicious oven-grilled pizza,” she shares. 

Nearby Langka Lane is the heart of the city’s thriving dining scene. “It was a small alleyway that has turned into a lively street with restaurants offering a variety of cuisines, from French and Japanese to Vietnamese,” adds Liem.

“In the last two to three years, Phnom Penh has seen an explosion of cool little restaurants, bars and unique dining experiences. It’s really growing up, much like Bangkok did in the 1990s. Great produce, some fabulous young chefs and beautiful spices/flavours are everywhere now,” says Anthony Lark, executive director of HMD Asia.

The hospitality management company owns and operates destination hotels, bars, and restaurants, such as the French bistro Le Manolis and the modern izakaya Kando in Post Office Square, as well as JATI, an all-villa island resort that opened in April 2025.

The next frontier

Compared to Thailand, Cambodia offers a more profound sense of discovery, privacy and connection, believes Benjamin Lehmann, general manager of Shinta Mani Angkor in Siem Reap. Other travel and lifestyle operators echoed this sentiment, leveraging these qualities to attract the “been-there, done-that” crowd. 

“Cambodia offers the next frontier: An emerging destination with deep cultural roots, untouched natural beauty, and a more exclusive, off-the-beaten-path feel,” says Melita Koulmandas, CEO and founder of Song Saa Private Island. “This is the next wave of high-end travel… where luxury is defined not by extravagance but by once-in-a-lifetime moments.”

Such moments include one of the resort’s signature experiences, a surreal night swim amid bioluminescent plankton — think the aurora borealis transposed onto the ocean. At Shinta Mani Wild, nestled in the jungles of the Cardamom Mountains, guests can zipline into the Landing Zone bar on arrival, whereupon they’ll be “rewarded” with a cocktail for their efforts.

This isn’t to say that luxury travellers have forsaken Cambodia’s main attractions; it’s how they’re experienced that matters. In Siem Reap, Shinta Mani Angkor offers private, after-hours temple tours, where guests can stand in complete silence before Angkor Wat as the sun rises — “No crowds, just them and history,” says Lehmann.

According to bespoke travel agency Abercrombie & Kent, this could mean accessing temples via atypical modes of transport, such as ATVs, helicopters, kayaks, or private gondolas. In addition, “Timing a visit away from the crowds (or) giving more in-depth commentary with the help of an archaeologist,” says a spokesperson. 

Ellie Khoury, senior Asia Pacific travel designer at Jacada Travel, concurs that expert guidance makes temple visits truly enriching. “We work with one of the world’s leading academics and top Cambodian archaeologists, who has worked at Angkor Wat for over 20 years, and appeared as an expert on channels including National Geographic, the BBC and CNN.”

Go deep or go home

For seasoned luxury travellers, it’s go deep or go home; to that end, Wondergolander can arrange for foodies to dive deep into culinary experiences “Such as a cooking class in a traditional stilt house overlooking the famed royal reservoir or a private candlelight temple dinner under the stars, where guests enjoy a historic menu and entertainment including a traditional Cambodian Apsara dance,” says co-founder and COO Hui-Juan Lim. 

Geraleine Yap, senior travel specialist at Scott Dunn, offers: “One experience we’ve arranged for guests is an evening with pioneering female chef and Khmer cuisine advocate, chef Nak. She welcomes our guests into her home for an intimate cooking class or a hosted dinner. For guests seeking something even more personal, she offers an exclusive homestay opportunity (to) gain a deeper understanding of community life in Cambodia.”

Scott Dunn can organise a meeting with veteran Phnom Penh journalists for guests to gain an understanding of how the city’s history has shaped the country. At Shinta Mani Wild, guests can go on an armed patrol with NGO Wildlife Alliance, which aims to halt the poaching trade and uncover illegal logging operations within designated protected areas, says general manager Marc LeBlanc.

Lehmann shares: “For returning guests, we don’t just ‘welcome them back’. We track their past experiences and build on them, making each stay feel like a continuation of their journey rather than just another check-in. If a guest expressed interest in Khmer architecture last time, we’ll have a newly restored temple to recommend, paired with a private meeting with the restoration team.” 

For travellers who want the best of all worlds, there is the Ultimate Luxury Tour of Cambodia. This partnership between Rosewood, the two Shinta Mani properties and Six Senses Krabey Island spans 12 nights, and its city-jungle-temple-beach itinerary provides an excellent sampler of what the country has to offer.