Situated on the banks of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers, Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia and a less-bustling counterpart to Hanoi or Bangkok. As a travel destination, it’s not as heavily visited as the country’s main tourism draw, the mighty ruins of Angkor. It is an underrated city with some charms of its own.
Phnom Penh has several decent sites like the Royal Palace, a beautiful national museum, an art-deco domed market and a decent riverside. There are also a few nice colonial-era buildings. But the city’s most well-known tourist “attraction” is also one of the most tragic to visit – the genocide sites of the Tuol Seng prison and the Choeung Ek killing ground. These two sites were used during the Cambodian genocide that killed millions in the late 1970s under dictator Pol Pot and his Khmer Rough communist regime.
If you go to Cambodia, do visit Phnom Penh even if just for a short while.
Wat Phnom
This is a temple located on a very small hill from which the city got its name. In 1372, a wealthy woman was said to have discovered a few Buddhist statues in a river nearby. She ordered a mound to be created, which became the hill, and a temple built on top to place the statues. Phnom means hill in Khmer, Cambodian’s language, and Penh was the woman’s name.
At the top, there is a small pink Buddhist temple and a stupa.
As a former French protectorate, there are some fine colonial buildings like this beautiful post office which was built in 1895.
Genocide Sites
Once used by the Khmer Rouge regime during its genocide, these places bear sad testament to the millions of Cambodians who perished.
The Choeung Ek killing ground was a place of execution where people were killed, sometimes by hand using sticks, and their bodies dumped. There is a tower of skulls inside a spire in the center of the grounds (below) while fragments of the killed can be seen in specific burial sites.
Tuol Seng is the second of the genocide sites, being a former school that was converted into a prison and place of torture. When you enter the rooms where prisoners were held and see instruments of torture as well as beds with shackles, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Almost everyone who was held in this prison was executed.
The gallows was used to hold prisoners during interrogations. They would be hung upside-down by their limbs and their heads lowered into pots of filthy water, which you can see here.
National Museum of Cambodia
Housed in a beautiful all-red complex built with a traditional architectural style, the national museum is the country’s main historical museum. It mainly features art, ceramics, sculptures and statues, mostly from the Angkor period (9th-13th centuries), when the country was at its height. Angkor Wat was built by the Angkor kingdom.
Royal Palace
This understated but majestic complex is the residence of the king but is also open to visitors. Check out the throne hall, the largest building in the palace, and the silver pagoda, a temple with several jeweled Buddhas, as well as several pavilions and smaller buildings.
Central Market
This unusual art-deco domed building was constructed in the 1930s and is one of Asia’s largest indoor markets. Souvenir and clothing stalls line the outside while inside features lots of jewelry and gold merchants. 
Take a walk by the river, especially after you exit the Royal Palace. You might see scenes like the below at a riverside shrine.
