Phnom Penh Travel Tips for a Tight Budget
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.
The practical details that actually matter in Phnom Penh
Beyond the sights, a handful of practical details make or break a Phnom Penh trip, and several of them changed recently enough that older guides get them wrong.
Entry and the airport
Phnom Penh’s air gateway is now Techo International Airport (KTI), about 25-30km south of downtown, which opened 9 September 2025 and replaced the old Phnom Penh International (PNH), now fully closed to commercial flights. Budget 45-75 minutes for the transfer into the city. Most travelers need an e-visa through evisa.gov.kh (about $36 total, 30 days) or a visa on arrival for a similar cost, and passports need 6 months’ validity from your travel dates. Separately, and easy to miss, Cambodia’s e-Arrival Card at arrival.gov.kh has been mandatory for all air arrivals since January 2025, file it within 7 days before you land.
Money
The US dollar is the working currency here, used everywhere; Cambodian riel, about 4,000 to the dollar, covers small change under $1. ATMs dispense USD but charge $4-6 per withdrawal on top of whatever your own bank adds, so fewer, larger withdrawals cost less overall. Bring clean $10 and $20 bills, torn or pre-2006 notes get refused at shops and banks alike. Tipping runs about 5-10%, appreciated rather than expected.
Getting around
There’s no metro. Tuk-tuks and motodops cover the city, and booking through PassApp or Grab fixes the fare upfront and skips the haggling a walk-up tuk-tuk expects. The riverside and central core are walkable between sights.
Safety, honestly
Phnom Penh carries the same big-city cautions as any capital its size. Motorbike bag and phone snatching is a real problem along the riverfront and in the BKK area, hold bags away from the road, keep your phone off the street side, and if a snatcher grabs something, let it go rather than resist. Watch for tuk-tuk overcharging (agree the fare or use an app), gem-shop and fake-monk scams, and drink spiking around Street 51 and Pontoon late at night. Tap water isn’t potable, stick to bottled, and dengue is a rainy-season risk from day-biting mosquitoes, so use repellent.
Dress and etiquette
The Royal Palace enforces a strict dress code, shoulders and knees covered, more strictly than many other regional temples, and entry gets refused otherwise. Remove shoes before entering any temple, and ask before photographing monks.
One thing worth knowing
Cambodia’s only do-not-travel advisory covers the Thailand border, about 400km from Phnom Penh, following a fragile ceasefire signed 27 December 2025. It’s well outside any normal Phnom Penh trip and shouldn’t affect your plans here.
Read more: the main Phnom Penh guide covers where to go with these logistics handled, and the 2-day itinerary puts it all into a schedule.