Phnom Penh - Getting There By Road

The roads around Cambodia vary from excellent to very poor tracks. The road system around Phnom Penh is the best in the country with numbered routes leading out of the city. Route 1 is the main road to the Vietnamese border at Moc Bai, Route 4 takes you to the only port at Sihanoukville and Route 6 to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor. The further you travel from the capital, the more the roads deteriorate and land travel becomes a gruelling experience. It is important to remember that during the rainy season, May to October, even major routes can suffer disruption because of serious flooding. Traffic drives on the right, but cars are both left-hand and right-hand drive cars, which can account for the rather reckless manner of driving adopted by the Cambodians. Most long-distance taxis leave from the northwest corner of the Central Market.

Emergency breakdown service: None.

Coach services: As the roads leading out of Phnom Penh are good, there is an extensive bus service to places such as Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, Kampong Cham, Battambang, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City. These are operated by the main bus company, the Phnom Penh Sorya Transport Co Ltd (tel: (023) 210 359; website: www.ppsoryatransport.com), and buses depart from the southwest corner of the Central Market, corner at Street 217 and Street 67.