3 Best Sights in Kampot, Cambodia

Kampot's world-renowned aromatic pepper can be bought all over Cambodia and is used by chefs helming some of the world's finest restaurants, but there's nothing quite like visiting where it's grown, learning about the process, sampling the pepper berries, and buying the product direct from the source, so you know you're purchasing the certified 100% organic product. La Plantation is one of the most respected producers of the pepper, where you can buy white, red, and black peppercorns and do a free tour of the pepper plantation. You can also explore its numerous heritage buildings, which were rescued and restored from surrounding villages. The main building, where you can dine on delicious dishes that feature the Kampot pepper, was once a hall for monks. 

As most pepper plantations are scattered around the countryside, it's best to arrange a private driver with a vehicle to explore them. A long day out in a tuk-tuk across this kind of terrain can be exhausting.

In the early 20th century, the French built this hill station as a cooling retreat from the heat and humidity of the coast. Aside from a stone Catholic Church, there's little to see of the ruined and abandoned colonial-era buildings, but it's worth visiting for the journey there along a winding road through forests, and the spectacular coastal views from its 3,000-foot heights. It's 35 km (22 miles) west of Kampot, and easily reachable with a driver and car, which can be arranged through your hotel.

These limestone caves shelter a pre-Angkorian Hindu ruin (before it was Buddhist, the Khmer empire was Hindu), where stalagmites and stalactites are gradually growing. The less appealing cave of Phnom Sia (flashlight required) is mostly about exploring the depths of a deep cave, while the cave on Phnom Sasear, known as the White Elephant Cave, has a shrine where locals make offerings to a white limestone formation thought to resemble an elephant head. The caves can be included in half-day, full-day, and multi-day tours of the surrounds that typically take in pepper plantations, salt flats, and Kep. Prices vary based on the duration and distance.