The Sofitel in Phnom Penh has a long driveway leading up to the entrance where I was greeted and led to the front counters. As a Platinum (thanks to the instant Plat status offers) I was upgraded one category to a Luxury Room featuring a private balcony – a place where I spent a lot of time at.
The rooms are elegant and fresh, though the hotel is a bit further away from the main tourist attractions of the city compared to the Raffles Phnom Penh. Construction is going on to the south of the hotel and in a few years the area surrounding the hotel should improve as they start to build it up.
Long driveway
Hotel entrance
Walking the grounds at the Sofitel
Outdoor pool
I used the hotel tuk-tuk to catch a ride to Wat Phnom where I would start my walking tour of the city. If you do stay at the Sofitel here, I highly recommend you take the walk down the driveway and out the entrance to catch a regular city tuk-tuk, the ones contracted with the hotel have extremely inflated prices (3 times the typical tourist going rate).
The city is a little bit more walkable than Siem Reap, but crossing the street can still be quite the adventure.
Wat Phnom
Inside the Central Market
Lunch at Romdeng - a teaching restaurant for young Cambodians
National Museum
When I came back to my room after exploring Phnom Penh, I found a welcome gift of small pastries from the French bakery downstairs along with some chocolates.
National Museum
I hung out and enjoyed the balcony view for a few hours and watched the sun go down, the slightly warm breeze felt while sitting on the balcony was just awesome.
Balcony View
Phnom Penh as the sun sets
The next morning I spent a few more hours out on the balcony enjoying my time before heading downstairs to catch a cab to the airport. I asked the front desk for a regular city taxi instead of the Sofitel car which would’ve been $60. Traffic was miserable and we got stuck at one intersection for 40 minutes before being forced to make a right turn at the intersection instead of continuing on. I had expected a 20-30 minute ride, but given the traffic, the trip took 1 hour and 15 minutes. As the time ticked by, I started to get a bit nervous about my flight, but we pulled up to the airport with just under 40 minutes to go.