When a former work colleague moved with his partner to Cambodia to work at a rustic hotel retreat on the tropical island of Koh Rong Samloem (occasionally known as Koh Rong Sanloem) it seemed a great opportunity to go visit.

As Cambodia, and Koh Rong Samloem even more so, are a bit of a trek from the UK the visit here formed part of a longer trip around Cambodia. This blog will however focus solely on getting to and staying on the island of Koh Rong Samloem and specifically at Lazy Beach.

We travelled by private car from Kampot 2 hours away to the coastal resort of Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville is a dirty, dusty and overly developed town. If you decide to stay here there are a plethora of local agents to get you to the outlying islands. Also the majority of resorts on the island will be able to organise your boat transfer. Koh Rong Samloem lies approximately 15 miles by boat from the mainland and takes about 2 hours.

We were to stay at the Lazy Beach Resort on the West coast of Koh Rong Samloem, where our friends had been working for over a year. At the time was thr property was only accommodation on that side of the island. However since our stay 2 more properties have been built or are currently under development, Lazy Beach, by all accounts, is still all fairly secluded. Overall there are about 20 properties on what is a fairly small island, the majority of these are on the Eastern Saracen Bay side. Whilst this development feels inevitable given the beauty of the island, and we can hardly begrudge such a poor country as Cambodia cashing in, it does seem a shame that over-tourism has once again stolen another tropical paradise in South East Asia.

There are 16 huts at Lazy Beach, and at maximum capacity can accomodate 60 people. The beach huts are fairly comfortable, with proper double beds and toilets, the showers are rainwater and as such are unheated. As it such a small island the on site bar and restaurant gets lots of day trippers that walk across from Saracen Bay. Indeed the food at Lazy Beach is excellent and heralded as the best on the island. We took a walk to Saracen Bay ourselves which took about 25 minutes through the jungle interior.

We stayed 3 nights as we had plenty of other places to visit in Cambodia. If you are looking for a quintessential beach hut stay you could easily spend longer, relaxing, snorkelling, sunbathing and enjoying the tranquility of the destination. Whilst we were there we took an evening dip to experience the phosphorence that is often on show just off shore.