Phnom Penh in 2 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use.
Two days is enough for the royal core and the honest weight of the memorials
Two days covers Phnom Penh’s marquee run: the Royal Palace and National Museum on Day 1, then a sober memorial morning at Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek on Day 2, closing at the Russian Market. Expect roughly $30-80 a person per day including a bed, meals, and tuk-tuks; the tables below break down where it goes. Before you fly, file the Cambodia e-Arrival Card (arrival.gov.kh, mandatory since January 2025) and either an e-visa (evisa.gov.kh, about $36) or a visa on arrival (about $30), and bring crisp, unmarked US bills, torn or old notes get refused here. Want more time? The 3-day itinerary adds Central Market and a Night Market evening. For the full sight-by-sight rundown, see the Phnom Penh guide .
Day 1: Royal Palace and the riverside core
Start at Wat Phnom ($1), the hilltop temple the city takes its name from, open by 7am before the heat sets in. Walk or tuk-tuk to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda ($10 combined), Cambodia’s grandest interior, though it’s an active royal residence so only part of it is open; go in the morning or afternoon session and dress in shoulders-and-knees coverage or you’ll be turned away at the gate. The National Museum of Cambodia is a few minutes’ walk away ($10 adult, $5 youth), the best collection of Khmer art anywhere. Close the day on Sisowath Quay, the riverside promenade at the actual Tonle Sap-Mekong confluence, free to walk, with dinner built around fish amok, the national dish.
| Day 1 cost (USD, per person) | Low | Higher |
|---|---|---|
| Bed (hostel dorm / guesthouse double) | 6 | 25 |
| Breakfast | 2 | 4 |
| Wat Phnom | 1 | 1 |
| Royal Palace + Silver Pagoda | 10 | 10 |
| National Museum (youth / adult) | 5 | 10 |
| Lunch | 2 | 6 |
| Dinner (fish amok) | 4 | 10 |
| Tuk-tuk rides | 2 | 6 |
| Day 1 total | 32 | 72 |
Day 2: Tuol Sleng, Choeung Ek, and the Russian Market
This is a memorial day, not a sightseeing day, budget it as one. Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21), the Khmer Rouge’s former central prison, is $5 (plus $5 for the recommended audio guide), open 8am-5pm; go first, since that’s the order the history happened in. Choeung Ek, about 15km south (30-45 minutes by tuk-tuk), is $6 including its own audio guide, open 7:30am-5:30pm; the memorial stupa holds more than 5,000 skulls. Agree the round-trip tuk-tuk fare before you set off, roughly $10-16 covers the distance and the driver’s wait at the site. In the afternoon, once you’re ready for something lighter, the Russian Market is free to browse (bargain on anything you buy), a deliberate contrast after the morning.
| Day 2 cost (USD, per person) | Low | Higher |
|---|---|---|
| Bed | 6 | 25 |
| Breakfast | 2 | 4 |
| Tuol Sleng (+ audio guide) | 5 | 10 |
| Choeung Ek (incl. audio) | 6 | 6 |
| Tuk-tuk to/from Choeung Ek | 10 | 16 |
| Lunch | 2 | 6 |
| Dinner | 4 | 10 |
| Local tuk-tuk rides | 2 | 4 |
| Day 2 total | 37 | 81 |
Getting around on 2 days
There’s no metro; PassApp or Grab fixes a tuk-tuk fare before you get in, worth doing for Day 2’s longer Choeung Ek run. The core of Day 1, Wat Phnom, the Palace, the Museum, the riverside, is walkable end to end if the heat allows it. Keep bags on the side away from traffic and your phone off the street edge; motorbike snatching is a real Phnom Penh risk along the riverfront.
Two days is honestly the minimum for Phnom Penh’s marquee list. If fitting the memorials and the Palace into 48 hours feels rushed, the 3-day itinerary spreads the same ground out with room to breathe.