The area is filled with cafes, restaurants, bars and plenty of shopping opportunities with a nice atmosphere, particularly in the mornings and evenings. There is an excellent range of accommodation in the area with many guesthouses and some quality hotels. Restaurants range from street food to fine dining

The south end has beautiful open parks in front of the Royal Palace and National Museum. It is also home to the famous FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club), still popular with journalists and just about everyone else as well.

At the north end there is a night market and Wat Phnom, the temple the city was founded on.

In November Sisowath hosts the annual Water Festival, Bonn Om Touk which features traditional boat racing and attracts over a million visitors from the provinces to the city.

Many of the guesthouses and hotels along Sisowath Quay offer great value and views of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers.

The Cozyna offers excellent value at $15-30 with a great location right near the Royal Palace.

Firmly in the higher end of the scale The Quay and Amanjaya Hotel are arguably the two best hotels on Sisowath, both come highly recommended and highly rated.

Angkor

Is probably the most commonly available beer in Cambodia, there are signs touting My Country, My Beer absolutely everywhere. Angkor is a lager and often available on tap.

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Angkor Stout

Not the easiest beer to find, while it’s rated better than Black Panther most westerners tend to agree that stouts just are not what you want to drink in the tropics.

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Anchor

Anchor is the second most popular beer. Locals seem to take preference to it over Angkor. Pronounced “An-cher” more to distinguish the word from Angkor and avoid confusion than anything else.

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ABC

Another local favorite and probably the most popular stout. I’ve seen this mixed 50/50 with  Anchor before… when in Rome as they say.

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Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is a relatively new beer in the market and another you might struggle to find, unsurprisingly it is not actually brewed in Phnom Penh.

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Black Panther

Apparently the number two stout and it probably is as I’ve never seen it out of its carton.

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Bayon

Targeted at the local market and cheaper than Angkor, in the hands of a local is where you will usually find it. No ones beer of choice.

As you would expect renting in Cambodia is quite cheap. A small apartment,  can be had for around $100 a month. Most foreigners living in Phnom Penh tend to look for something around the $200 – $350 a month mark, and are satisfied with what you get for your money in this range. In the $400+ range we are talking about access to swimming pools and other luxuries like this, so it’s true, you can have a higher standard of living in South East Asia for equal or less than you would spend for the same standard in the west.

Apartments often come furnished and include things like cable TV, internet, air con and utilities. Electricity is not usually included though and foreigners are charged a higher rate than Khmers which is just another reason to take note of the following information.

If your potential landlord doesn’t speak English and your Khmer isn’t up to scratch it’s a good idea to call on a Khmer friend. If you have a Khmer partner let them do the negotiating, they may be able to help you avoid or minimize the foreigner tax. Even if you use an agent having a Khmer speaker you know help you will make sure you are getting a fair
deal.

While landlords will try to get a little more out of foreigners they will also often prefer a foreign tenant.

Bonna Realty has the largest online listing of Real Estate and Rentals in Phnom Penh, it is a good idea to have a look through the listing to see what you can get for your money. Also do a little research on the areas apartments are available in.