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Battambang, a Cambodia’s second-largest city is an elegant riverside town, home to some of the best-preserved French-period architecture in the country and to warm and friendly inhabitants. The city itself is developing fast but timeless hilltop temples and scenic villages can be seen on leisurely day-trips. The most scenic river trip in the country links Battambang with Siem Reap. Battambang Discovery Visitor Centers will provide the most comprehensive guide to Battambang town at our Centre or by email. We provide a 24/7 free email answering service to your questions. Please call or email us, if you have any questions.
Everything you ever wanted to know about Battambang and few more things you hadn't thought about if planning to visit Battambang town and its attractions.
Check out our attraction map below to plan out your day trips.
Attractions in Battambang
This is really a must-do thing as the journey is very scenic. You'll pass by ramshackle stilt houses with young children waving at you from the river banks and boats on their way to school, floating villages and local people going about their daily lives on the river. The river flows into a lake called Tonle Sap before ending at the Chong Khmeas ferry dock about 10km south of Siem Reap. The trip takes 5 to 8 hours depending on the weather, the water levels, how overloaded your boat is and the quality of the boat.
Bamboo trains or Norry in Khmer, are one of the "must sees" of Battambang, if only for their novelty value. Formed by two sets of railway wheels, a bamboo mat and powered by a small motor, these are an impromptu way of traveling up and down the railway line in lieu of a real train.
Aside from a rather peculiar way of getting around, they are also a great way of seeing rural Cambodia well off the road network. When two norries meet coming in opposite directions, the one with the lighter load is dismantled and removed from the tracks, allowing the other to pass.
Psar Nat (Central Market) is located right in the centre of town. The most interesting time to visit the market is the early morning when sellers from the villages around Battambang bring their products to market such as fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, and lay them out along the side of the road on the floor.
Performs every Monday and Thursday evening. The shows include a range of circus disciplines including acrobatics, juggling, aerial work, clowning, tightrope walking and aqua-balance. The shows are put on by students from the NGO arts school, Phare Ponleu Selpak. This organisation helps disadvantaged children and young people escape from situations connected with poverty such as begging or trafficking and to get an education, both in normal public school and in the arts.
En route to Ek Phnom you'll pass a group of houses dedicated to making the rice paper used in wrapping spring rolls, with the workers quite happy for you to stop and take a look.
Just over 20 mins drive, the south of Battambang, Phnom Banan is the best kept of the remaining Khmer ruins in the area. What is impressive from this hill are the superb views of the surrounds in all directions.
There are well worth exploring caves, though note the cave entrance is almost at the base of the hill, so be sure you are finished with the ruins before you go down to explore those caves.
Ek Phnom temple dates back to the 11th century and is one of the most-visited attractions around Battambang.
A lintel showing the Churning of the Ocean of Milk can be seen above the east entrance to the central temple, whose upper flanks hold some fine bas-reliefs. Construction of the giant Buddha statue next door has been stopped by the government because, they say, it mars the site’s timeless beauty. This is a very popular picnic and pilgrimage destination for Khmers at festival times.
This hilltop temple about 20 mins from Battambang town center by Tuk tuk, is one of the main locations of Battambang's killing fields ( The Killing Cave), with a large cave where victims were thrown either after being bludgeoned or having their throats cut, or simply to their death.
Wat Somrong Knong is located about 6 Kilometers north of Battambang, on the east side of the Sangkar River. Situated nearby the Wat is a monument to the Khmer Rouge genocide. this structure is like many others, in that there are skulls and bones encased in a glass edifice. the exception is that it sits on two large tiers, on the front of which there are a number of concrete bas-reliefs depicting the fall of the area to the Khmer Rouge.