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There are no traditional hostels in Phenom Penh, but there are plenty of cheap hotels where the Phenom Penh hostel crowd finds great deals on private rooms that are usually even less expensive than the dorm hostels elsewhere. This is the capital of Cambodia, but the main tourist center is really in Siem Reap. Nevertheless, there is plenty to see here and you’ll find many places suitable for the crowd that gravitates to the budget hotels and hostels in Phenom Penh.

The Riverside area is where you’ll find most of the nightlife and craziness in this city so booking a hotel or hostel in this area should be a high priority for those wanting fun after dark. The rest of the city is quite spread out, but the public transportation system is quite good so it’s not a terrible idea to book a Phenom Penh hostel or hotel in a quiet neighborhood and then dip into the nightlife pool only as you see fit instead of staying in it all the time.

One important thing to be aware of when booking a Phenom Penh hostel or hotel is that the city has a slightly corrupt booking system if you just breeze into town without a reservation. If you ask a tour operator or a taxi driver for a recommendation on a hotel you’ll be taken to an unpopular and substandard place that fills itself up every night with just those sort of recommendations.

And the worst part about it is you’ll be the one paying the commission to the taxi or motorbike driver because the hotel will as much as double their normal walk-up rates for you so they can give the extra to the person who brought you. The places that use this technique tend not to list themselves on a site that lists hotels and hostel in Phenom Penh because they do well enough through their own corrupt method.

So it’s highly recommended that you book in advance so you’ll know exactly what you are paying, in which neighborhood you’ll be staying, and what services the hotel has. All the places listed here have maps so you can tell if they are located in a noisy nightlife area or a quiet suburb or perhaps even far from everything.

You’ll still be able to get a taxi driver or motorbike driver to take you to the hotel you’ve already booked because they still want to get the fare and they’ll know they can’t rip you off by taking you to the rundown places offering them commission.

Sunday Guesthouse has some of the cheapest rooms in the area. They aren’t really a Phenom Penh hostel, but they are popular with budget travelers and backpackers. Their cheapest rooms start around US$3 per night, with their air conditioned rooms being about double that price, but obviously still cheap. They show the Killing Fields movie every evening at 7 p.m. and then organize tours to the Killing Fields themselves, so you get a lot of local flavor mixed in to your Phenom Penh stay for very little money.

Hostels in Phnom Penh