Backpacking Koh Rong
Koh Rong is the island at the end of Cambodia, seventy eight square kilometres of jungle with white sand around the edges, forty five minutes off the mainland by fast boat. After the temples and the history, this is where the trip stops being about anything.
The headline is Long Beach: seven kilometres of white sand on the west side, reached by an hour through the jungle or fifteen minutes by boat taxi, and still nearly empty most days. The other headline happens after dark, when the bioluminescent plankton in the water lights up around anything that moves in it, including you.
Koh Touch is the arrival village and the loud end: one sandy street, every hostel on it, fire shows on the beach at nine. Walk twenty minutes in either direction and it stops. Two to three days is the plan and three is the right answer.
Why Koh Rong is popular with backpackers
- Long Beach: seven kilometres of white sand and almost nobody on it
- Swimming in bioluminescent plankton that lights up around you
- Beach barbecues where you point at a fish and pay per piece
- Less developed than the Thai islands, and considerably cheaper
- Boat days with snorkelling, fishing, sunset and the plankton in one trip
- A jungle path straight across the island, and no roads to speak of
- Fire shows on the sand, every night, for free
Best time to visit Koh Rong
The island follows the coast it sits off: dry in the winter, wet and windy in the summer, and the boats are the part that notices.
One thing to time deliberately. The bioluminescent plankton shows up best around a new moon, when the water is genuinely dark. At full moon the moonlight drowns it and you will see very little, which is worth knowing before you plan the whole trip around it.
Backpacker budget: around €20 a day
- €7hostel bed
- €3local meal
- €1beer
- €5boat taxi per ride
Guide prices from our own days in Koh Rong. Add a tour or a night out and it climbs fast.
Best hostels in Koh Rong
All of them are in Koh Touch, on or just off the one sandy street, and all of them are on the beach or a minute from it.
Nest Beach Club
The best known hostel on the island, directly on the sand. Hammocks over the water during the day and something going on most evenings.
Easy to arrive at on your own, and hard to leave once you are in one of the hammocks.
Mad Monkey Koh Rong
The Mad Monkey formula on a tropical island: beach parties, a big international crowd and a programme that means you will not be on your own for long.
If you want the loud version of Koh Rong, this is where it is.
The Lost Boys
The calmer one, and the highest rated of the three at 9.5. Near the beach, relaxed, and much more about the island than about the night.
Good if you want Koh Touch’s convenience without Koh Touch’s volume.
Best things to do in Koh Rong
A boat, a beach, a jungle path and a swim in the dark. That is the island, and it is enough.
The boat day: snorkelling, fishing, sunset and plankton
The one activity everybody does, and it deserves it. A full day out on the water with snorkelling stops around the island, fishing off the boat in the afternoon, sunset from out at sea, and then the lights go off and you get in the water with the plankton.
For most people this is the best day they have in Cambodia, and it is the cheapest way to do all four of those things.
Long Beach
Seven kilometres of white sand on the west coast, and the reason Koh Rong has the reputation it does. Almost nothing is built on it, which means almost nothing is sold on it either: bring water.
Get there by boat taxi in fifteen minutes or walk the jungle path in an hour. It faces west, so it is also the best sunset on the island.
Swimming with the plankton
Thousands of tiny organisms in the water that light up when they are disturbed, so every stroke you take leaves a trail of blue-green sparks behind it. It happens on very few coastlines and this is one of them.
You can do it from the beach for free or as part of a trip. Go on a dark night, do not go alone, and do not go after drinking.
The jungle path to Long Beach
A proper hour of walking straight over the middle of the island, partly steep, through real jungle with viewpoints along the way. It comes out on the north end of Long Beach.
Shoes, water and insect repellent. And do it in daylight, because there is no lighting anywhere on this island.
Kayaking and paddleboarding
The water around the bays is calm enough that neither takes any skill, and there are small beaches along the coast you cannot reach any other way. Early morning is the moment: the sea goes glassy and the wind has not started.
Stay close to shore. The current pulls outward and it is stronger than it looks from the beach.
Beach hopping by boat taxi
The island has more beaches than the one everybody names. Sok San is long and quiet, Palm Beach and Coconut Beach are small and low key, and each bay has its own idea of what an island should be.
Boat taxis run between them for about €5 a ride, which makes a whole day of this easy to put together.
Fire shows and sunset on the sand
The beach bars in Koh Touch run fire shows most nights around nine: spinning staffs, ropes and poi on the sand, free to watch with a drink in your hand.
One rule and it is not negotiable. Do not jump the burning rope. People get badly burned doing that here every single season, and it is never the performers.
Best area for backpackers
Koh Touch
The arrival village and where nearly everybody stays: one sandy street behind the pier with the hostels, restaurants, bars and every tour desk on the island squeezed into it.
It is lively and it is loud at night, which is either the point or the problem depending on what you came for. Twenty minutes’ walk in either direction and you are on an empty beach.
Good to know about this area
- Every hostel, tour desk and boat leaves from here
- Everything within a few minutes on foot, because there is one street
- Loud until late, and quiet again by about two
- No roads on the island beyond this: it is boats and jungle paths
- One unreliable cash machine, so bring cash from the mainland
- No street lighting anywhere, so a torch is genuinely useful
How to plan your days in Koh Rong
Two to three days: beach, jungle and plankton. Pick how long you have.
Koh Touch and Long Beach. Koh Touch is where you land and where the noise is. Walk or take a boat over to Long Beach on the west side: seven kilometres of white sand with far fewer people on it.
Tonight: swim with the plankton, which lights up at every movement.
The boat day. Snorkelling stops, fishing off the back, sunset from the water and the plankton to finish. The classic thing to do here, and worth the whole day.
Tonight: a fire show on the beach at Koh Touch.
The jungle path, or Koh Rong Sanloem. The path straight over the island to Long Beach takes an hour through real jungle. Or take the boat to Koh Rong Sanloem, the quieter island next door.
Tonight: boat back to the mainland, or stay one more night.
Food and drink in Koh Rong
Everything on this island arrives by boat, so the food costs more than it does on the mainland. What makes up for it is the fish, which does not travel at all: it is landed here.
In Koh Touch the barbecues come out onto the sand in the evening. You point at a fish or a skewer, they weigh it or count it, and you pay per piece. That is dinner, and it is the best meal on the island.
Getting there and onward
Koh Rong is reached only by ferry from Sihanoukville, and once you are on it there are effectively no roads: you walk or you take a boat.
Getting there. The fast boat from Sihanoukville takes about forty five minutes and runs several times a day. Buy a return, which is cheaper than two singles.
On the island. One sandy street and then jungle. Between the beaches it is a boat taxi at about €5 a ride, or the path on foot.
Onward. Koh Rong Sanloem is half an hour away by boat. Back via Sihanoukville you carry on to Kampot, Phnom Penh or the Thai border.
- Fast boatSihanoukville 45 min, several times a day
- Boat taxiBetween the beaches, about €5 a ride
- To SanloemKoh Rong Sanloem in half an hour
- Jungle pathKoh Touch to Long Beach, about an hour
- Day tripSnorkelling, fishing and plankton, a full day
Staying safe in Koh Rong
A small island with limited facilities: no hospital, not much electricity, and one cash machine that is often empty. That asks for a bit of preparation rather than any real worry.
- Bring enough cash from the mainland. The machine here cannot be relied on
- Carry a torch. There is no street lighting and the jungle path is dark
- Use repellent: dengue occurs here and the sandflies on the beach bite
- Ask whether there are life jackets on board before a boat trip
- Take the jungle path to Long Beach alone at night
- Swim with the plankton after drinking. This goes wrong here every year
- Count on medical care. Anything serious means going back to the mainland
- Leave valuables loose in a hut with a padlock on it
Rebels on the Road tip
Book three nights, not two. Almost everybody books two, spends the first one recovering from the boat and the second on the day trip, and leaves without ever having had a day where nothing was planned. That third day is the island: you walk to Long Beach in the morning, you lie there until the light goes orange, you take the boat taxi back to Koh Touch, and after dark you swim in water that lights up around your arms. That is the day people talk about afterwards, and it is the one that gets cut.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need on Koh Rong?
Two to three, and three is better. One day for the beaches, one for the boat trip, and one with nothing planned, which is the one people remember.
When can you see the plankton?
After dark, any night of the year, and best around a new moon when the water is properly dark. At full moon the moonlight washes it out. Go with other people and not after drinking.
Koh Rong or Koh Rong Sanloem?
Koh Rong has the hostels, the boat trips and the evening. Sanloem, half an hour away, is quieter, prettier in places and has far less going on after dark. A lot of people do a couple of nights on each.
How do I get to Koh Rong?
Fast boat from Sihanoukville, about forty five minutes, several departures a day. Buy a return ticket, which works out cheaper, and check the last boat back if you have a bus to catch.
Is there a cash machine on Koh Rong?
There is one and it is often empty or out of service. Take enough cash with you from the mainland for your beds, your boat trip and your food, in dollars.
Is Koh Rong expensive?
More than the mainland, because everything arrives by boat. Around €20 a day still covers a bed, three meals and a couple of beers. The boat day is the main extra and it is worth budgeting for.
Is Koh Rong a party island?
Koh Touch is, at night, and it is contained to that one street. Everywhere else on the island is quiet, and Long Beach is close to empty. You can have either version depending on where you sleep.
When is the best time to visit Koh Rong?
November to April, when the sea is calm, the water is clear and the boats run normally. May is still good weather, just hot and heavy, with the first rain on the way. June to October is the rainy season here, with wind, rough crossings and a lot of places closed.
