Health and safety

Violent crime against visitors is rare and the country is comfortable for solo and female travellers by regional standards. The two things that genuinely put people in hospital are road accidents and dehydration, and the two that genuinely cost them money are bag snatching and their own carelessness with valuables.

Before you go

Check that routine vaccinations are current, and discuss hepatitis A and typhoid with a travel clinic; rabies and Japanese encephalitis are worth the conversation for longer or rural trips. Malaria is not a risk in the cities, Siem Reap or the main tourist areas, but is present in forested border provinces — ask specifically about your itinerary rather than about the country.

Take travel insurance that explicitly covers motorbike riding and medical evacuation. Serious cases are flown to Bangkok or Singapore, and that flight is the expensive part.

Mosquitoes

Dengue is present year-round and peaks in the wet season. The mosquito that carries it bites in daylight, mostly early morning and late afternoon, so repellent is a daytime habit here rather than an evening one. Cover up at dusk, use a fan or air conditioning at night, and see a doctor for any fever above 38.5°C lasting more than a day.

Food, water and heat

Do not drink tap water. Bottled and filtered are everywhere, and most hotels will refill a bottle. Heat exhaustion is far more common than food poisoning: drink more than you think you need, add rehydration salts on temple days, and take the middle of the day off in April and May. A hat and shade are not optional at Angkor.

Bag snatching, and the sensible response

The one urban crime that regularly affects visitors, in Phnom Penh especially: a passenger on a passing motorbike takes a bag or a phone from a pedestrian or a tuk-tuk passenger. It is almost never violent beyond the grab, and it is almost entirely preventable. Do not walk with a phone in your hand near the kerb, carry a bag on the inside shoulder or across the body under an arm, and keep it out of sight in a tuk-tuk.

Leave your passport in the hotel safe and carry a photocopy. Split your cash between two places. Never leave a phone on a restaurant table facing the street.

Landmines

A real legacy in a small number of rural border areas in the north-west, and irrelevant to any normal itinerary. The rule is simple and absolute: stay on marked paths in the countryside, never enter a field marked with a red skull sign, and do not touch metal objects on the ground.

If something goes wrong

Phnom Penh and Siem Reap have international-standard clinics with English-speaking doctors, and they are the right first stop for anything more than a pharmacy problem. Pharmacies in cities are well stocked and cheap. Keep your insurer’s emergency number saved offline, along with your embassy’s.

Common questions