Hotels in Kep — Book & Earn Cashback

Kep is small, and that is the whole point of it. A single road runs along the seafront, the hills rise behind the town into national park, and the crab market sits at one end selling what the boats bring in. People come here to eat slowly and do very little, and the town is shaped around that rather than around a sight you have to queue for.

The crab is the reason most people make the trip. Blue swimmer crabs come out of traps in the shallows just offshore and are cooked with green Kampot pepper from the farms inland — a dish that belongs to this stretch of coast and tastes like it. The seafront is where you eat it, at plastic tables, with the sea directly in front of you.

The other thing you notice is the villas. Kep was built as a resort town and much of what was built is still standing, roofless and overgrown, scattered up the hillsides among the newer guesthouses. Staying here means a short seafront strip, a hill road with views back over the water, and Rabbit Island out in front — a quiet base rather than a busy one.