Relax in Coconut Beach, Koh Rong

Cambodia in a Week – Day 6

I am always fond of beach, and after I have started living in and exploring South-East Asia, beachtime has been my favorite. Love the beaches around here, and Coconut Beach of Koh Rong just made my travel to Cambodia complete. We stayed here for 2 nights and this was the last night. Finally, this was also our last night in Cambodia. All I and Sayantika did today was some kayaking and relaxing on the beach. Moreover, we needed this after a jam-packed exploration of Cambodia in a week’s time.

Highlights of the Day

  • Relax on the Beach
  • Kayaking
  • Witnessing Bioluminiscent Plankton in Dark

Bungalows and Beachtime

Coconut Beach Bungalows offers you a paradise straight from the imagination as you can enjoy the aquamarine waters of the ocean and the white sand beach right from the balcony of your bungalow, which is so close to the beach. We were up until late last night due to Khmer new year celebration with other fellow travelers on the beach. As a result, we woke up really late, and rushed for brunch – we were so hungry. Later, we spent the whole time on the beach.

Brunch at Coconut Beach Bungalows, Koh Rong
Hot pancakes were served with maple syrup and bananas for breakfast

We made few friends on the beach last night. They were staying in neighboring beach houses, and they had rented kayak for half a day, but were too tired to kayak. Meanwhile, I and Sayantika were also looking for renting kayak but the traveler buddies allowed us to take their kayak and roam around the waters while they decided to play on the beach – now that was a great chance we would not want to miss, so we went for kayaking! Yayy!

Kayaking at Coconut Beach, Koh Rong
Kayaking on the crystal blue waters of Coconut Beach is a heavenly experience you must not miss
View of Coconut Beach from our kayak
We kayaked for a long time and got this beautiful view of Coconut beach from our kayak
View of the beach during sunset
The sun had almost set when we came back after kayaking for hours, and when the sky darkened, we swam in the water to witness the bioluminescence plankton – it seemed like magic

You feel really hungry after you are out of water. Hence after a quick shower, we rushed to the lovely kitchen at Coconut Beach Bungalows for an early dinner. We tried some local vegetarian dish with rice for dinner. We decided to sleep early tonight as we had to catch an early morning taxi boat to Koh Rong tomorrow.

Cambodia in a Week – Day 7

Today it was all about traveling back to Thailand. Sihanoukville does not have direct flights to Bangkok – all flights fly via Siem Reap or Phnom Penh. You can take a van back to Phnom Penh and fly too. But we chose to cross the border by land without going back to any city that we have come from. There are direct buses from Sihanoukville to Koh Kong, a small forested, hilly island close to the Cambodia-Thailand border.

Highlights of the Day

  • Boat to Koh Rong
  • Ferry to Sihanoukville
  • Bus to Koh Kong
  • Tuktuk to the Border

From Coconut Beach to Cambodia-Thailand Border

We had a quick breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup and bananas – our regular and favorite choice. Later, we checked out from our beautiful bungalow and headed to the beach.

Our backward journey started at around 9 AM and it was around 4.30 PM when we reached the border of Cambodia and Thailand. As a result, be mentally prepared to spend most of the day traveling if you plan to travel by road.

The different legs of the journey by road were as follows:

  • 9 AM: First we took a taxi boat from Coconut Beach to Koh Toch village. It took around 15-20 min.
  • 10 AM: Next was the Speed Ferry Cambodia from Koh Toch pier of Koh Rong to Serendipity pier of Sihanoukville. However, we already had a round trip ticket that we bought while coming to Koh Rong from Sihanoukville. Hence we did not have to buy a separate ticket. The ferry took around an hour.
  • 11 AM: We had a quick lunch at Dao of Life, a vegan eco-cafe just outside the pier. It is a highly recommended restaurant.
  • 11.30 AM: We got into a tuktuk from Serendipity pier to the Rith Mony bus station at Sihanoukville. It took around 5 min.
  • 12 PM: Next is bus under Rith Mony Bus Company from Sihanoukville to Koh Kong at 12 PM. We bought the ticket from Robbie of Coconut Beach Bungalows. It took around 4 hours.
  • 4 PM: Finally, we took a tuktuk from Koh Kong bus station to Cham Yeam border checkpoint. It took around 15 min as the distance was around 20 km.
View from Coconut beach at early morning
End of travel is always very difficult, and this beautiful view from the beach while we were waiting for the taxi boat to Koh Toch village was making it more difficult
View from the taxi boat from Coconut Beach to Koh Toch village
View from the taxi boat from Coconut Beach to Koh Toch village
Speed Ferry Cambodia
This was another ferry that was going to Koh Rong from Sihanoukville – I wished to jump to that ferry and go back to Koh Rong again and spend few more days
View from the taxi boat from Koh Rong to Sihnoukville
View from the ferry on the way to Sihanoukville from Koh Rong
Rith Mony Bus Ticket
Be careful while boarding the bus as we met a couple who took a wrong bus and ended up in Sihanoukville – they were coming from Koh Kong and supposed to go to Phnom Penh – so kindly double-check your ticket and ask the driver before getting into the bus
View of Koh Kong from the bus
Koh Kong is a part of Cardamom Mountain’s rainforest and offers beautiful views on the way
Tuktuk from Koh Kong to the Cham Yeam Border Checkpoint
Koh Kong bus station was very deserted – if you are a female traveler, I would strongly advise to take a tuktuk as soon as possible from the bus station to the border without wasting much time as they get filled with other customers and go away very soon leaving you alone – we had to wait for a long time alone for the next tuktuk and we did not feel safe
At the immigration control of Cambodia-Thailand border
We handed over the print-out of our e-visa and were stamped out of the country without any hassle
The border control office at Hat Lek, Thailand
After getting stamped out at Cham Yeam border control, Cambodia, you have to walk to Hat Lek border control, Thailand and get stamped in for Thailand

We easily stamped in to Thailand. From there, you can take a minivan to Trat from where you can get buses or even minivans to Bangkok easily, like we did. The journey over road from Cambodia to Thailand was long. But it was not too difficult, and we gained a lot of road experience. Moreover, most of the time, the journey is more beautiful than the destination – truly said!

NET EXPENSE FOR 1 PERSON (IN USD)

Let us have a look at the expenses of Days 6-7 in Cambodia – Koh Rong.

  • Coconut Beach to Bangkok: 30
  • Food: 15
  • Miscellaneous: 10

Total expense (roughly): 55 USD

For an overall idea of itinerary and expense of the trip, whether for solo or couple or group of any number of people, feel free to contact me on Contact Us page. You can also have a look at Cambodia in a Week – Itinerary and Expenses.

If you are planning for a much-organized, tastefully-curated, stress-free yet exciting vacation, consider booking your holidays at Travel Love Repeat. It is going to be a treat for sure!

24 thoughts on “Relax in Coconut Beach, Koh Rong”

  1. Fantastic
    My question is what is temperature there in this season?

    What rating would u give for the acvomodation and the money u spend on staying?

    Howz local people behaviour towards tourists? Specially Indians!??

    1. Now, it is rainy season in Myanmar. I would suggest the best time to visit Myanmar are the Asian winters.
      The value for money is good. You can get a pretty decent accommodation with breakfast included at an economical rate.
      The local people are magical. They always put up a smile on their face, be it for Indians or Italians or any. They are very kind.

  2. Woww lucky you Shreya to be at such beautiful places, Coconut Beach seems to be a fine getaway for relaxing and kayaking, beautiful pics and experience nicely penned down by you ..
    And your journey back to Cambodia Thailand border was great, yes it’s right that often journey is more beautiful than the destination!!
    Looking forward for more interesting days of exploring the globe by you, keep travelling keep updating!!

  3. Great way to end your week long Cambodia trip. Meeting people on the road who are generous and like to share is always lovely. Great that you got the kayaks to go out into the sea. As for the bioluminescence plankton, that’s one natural phenomenon that’s on most bucket lists, so good job ticking it off. Also glad that the immigration into Thailand was smooth.

  4. This type of holiday is exactly what I like – being able to laze around and still have enough things to be occupied with. I especially liked the itinerary you included here, its really helpful as a guide for a newbie going to Cambodia.

  5. Coconut beach looks lovely – I would love to see those bioluminescent plankton! Sea kayaking is always fun, and how lucky that your new friends lent you their kayak. I don’t think I would have wanted to leave, especially with such a long day of travel to get to Thailand! Great info on how to travel to the border, especially your safety tip for females.

  6. Jane Dempster-Smith

    Thank you for including your costs in the article. Coconut Beach looks like my sort of place for relaxation. We are working on an itinerary to Cambodia and will bookmark this article for future reference. Thanks.

  7. I visited Cambodia last year and was totally impressed by its simplicity. Though I visited the temples, rivers and a few villages around, did not have much chance to visit beaches. I miss the food I ate in all the places which was fresh, tasty and so affordable, nearly 3

  8. Kayaking the waters sounds like an amazing way to explore – good exercise too after the pancakes! I also am loving the sound of Dao of Life – would love to check out this eco friendly cafe. I am totally a lover of beach time and this is what I love most about living in Southeast Asia too!

  9. Coconut beach sure is one of the pretties beaches in Cambodia, at least from my experience. However, as I hear Koh Rong is becoming more and more touristy nowadays. Were there a lot of tourists around when you visited?

  10. theaveragetourist

    Coconut Beach certainly looks like a tropical paradise to me! Kayaking looks like such a fun activity there and I liked seeing the local cat – I always try to make friends. Do you recommend this season? I hear it’s rainy – but did the weather impact your trip?

  11. Wow, getting on the wrong bus must have been such a nightmare. This itinerary looks great, I’m planning a trip to the region for fall of 2020 so super helpful!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.