Kampot is a slow, beautiful riverside town on the Praek Tuek Chhu river, about three hours southwest of Phnom Penh and a short drive from the sea. It has become one of the most popular destinations in Cambodia for travellers who want to linger — the river, the French colonial architecture, the night market, the mountains in the background — but it has managed so far to keep some of the unhurried quality that makes it worth staying longer than planned.
The town is famous above all else for its pepper. Kampot pepper — both black and white — is regarded by many chefs as among the best in the world, with a complex floral heat that dried trade pepper doesn't replicate. The pepper plantations around the town offer tours, and you can buy directly from farmers at a fraction of shop prices. Kampot pepper on fresh crab from nearby Kep is the local combination to eat before you leave.
Bokor Hill Station, on a mountaintop 40 kilometres from town in the Cardamom Mountains, is one of the more atmospheric places in Cambodia — a French colonial resort town abandoned in panic twice in the 20th century, with a ghost church, a crumbling casino, and views over the Gulf of Thailand. The road up, built by the French using forced labour, now carries tourist vans; the ruins are more contested than they used to be since a Chinese development company has been building a new casino resort on the hilltop. Still worth visiting for the older ruins.
The river is the spine of the town. Most activity happens along the waterfront promenade and the streets immediately behind it. Kayaking on the river is one of the better ways to see the surrounding landscape; the mangroves downstream from town are rich in birdlife. Kep is 25 kilometres east along the coast road and easy as a day trip.