Introduction
Sihanoukville is about 240 km southwest of Phnom Penh. It’s an international port city, but the attraction for visitors is its beaches. Compared to Thailand, it’s virtually undeveloped – comparisons with the likes of Phuket and Indonesia's Bali are wishful politicians’ hyperbole.

Nevertheless, Sihanoukville has considerable potential - the quality of its beaches and sea water surpass most of the familiar locations elsewhere, the offshore islands still have unspoilt coral reefs and there is plenty of opportunities for cruising and fishing.

Diving is now available and is becoming recognised as a promising new centre.

The city
Sihanoukville was created in 1960 – the earliest monument is the ruined Independence Hotel dating back to 1962. Its Cambodia’s only port and, like port cities all over the world, it’s grimy and sleazy.

Back in the 1990’s, there were grandiose schemes to turn the city into SE Asia’s Las Vegas. Casinos and their associated infrastructure sprang up, but the collapse of the East Asia economies towards the turn of the century sent the investors running for safety.

Fortunately, the well-surfaced highway from the capital neatly loops east past Sihanoukville to the beaches so the only view of the city is rooftops and large loading cranes in the distance.

Beaches to by-pass
At first, the beaches are disappointing. Victory Beach, closest to Sihanoukville, is grubby, crowded and mostly packed with untold numbers of shanty beachfront drink stalls. Move on quickly!

Independence Beach isn’t much better. It’s less busy and the sand is better, but the drink stalls are still much in evidence.

Ocheuteal Beach (pronounced ‘o-shoo-teal’) is long, sandy and narrow at high time.

It’s the best of the three in terms of sand and water quality, but the section nearest the city is the back-packer/hippy area. Ocheuteal is quite similar to most beaches in Thailand – beach vendors, souvenir sellers and beggars everywhere, armies of weekenders from Phnom Penh, and loud techno ‘music’ from the multitude of bars and beach clubs.

The beach gets better the further east you walk. By the time you reach the eastern end, it’s almost deserted, quiet and peaceful.

Now for the good stuff.

Sokha Beach
Sandwiched between Independence and Ocheuteal beaches is Sokha Beach, a cove with one kilometre of soft white sand fringed with palms.

Behind the palms, there’s a single deluxe resort hotel, the only development in sight. On both sides of the small bay are rocky promontories.

The beach is wide, even at high tide, so it looks practically deserted even when the resort is full.

The beach is open to the locals, but few take up the opportunity preferring instead to mingle in large groups in common with most SE Asia cultures.

Otres Beach
Ocheuteal and Otres beaches are separated by Queens Hill, a high rocky spur stretching in the sea. Like Ocheuteal, Otres Beach is long, has soft white sand, natural shade, clear water. Missing are the people and buildings.

Apart from a few houses, a small development next to the hill, and a fishing village in the far distance, it’s empty.

Sitting on top of the promontary is the Queens Hill Resort. Despite its imposing name, it’s a decidedly humble establishment – a few wooden bungalows clinging to the top of the rocky cliff. It’s very basic, but the view of the two beaches fading into the distance must rate among the best in Indochina.

Ream Beach
The most distant of the eastern beaches, about 20 km from Sihanoukville, Ream Beach lies within Ream National Park. It’s a smallish beach, narrow at high tide, but it’s attractive and relatively little used apart from a few fishermen and visitors to the park.

There's a small Vietnamese community at one end of the beach.

Ream National Park
The park encompasses 21,000 hectares of coastal area including sandy beaches, mangrove forests, the Prek Tuk Sap estuary, off-shore coral reefs and two islands.

A variety of water and jungle fowl, rhesus monkeys and fresh water dolphins can be seen by visitors, though the park also contains rarely glimpsed species such as mouse deer and pangolin.

Some beaches are backed by mangrove swamp that attracts a wide variety of tropical birds. There's also a small guesthouse run by the National Park.

Conclusion
Sihanoukville isn't even a dot on the map as far as tourism us concerned. The infrastucture is minimal and there's few facilities.

In other words, it's perfect for the traveller jaundiced by the commercialism of glitzy international resorts, jet-skis, packed diving sites and sky-high prices.

Don't hang about though - the investors are beginning to smell profits in the wind!

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