Getting to know Battambang
Battambang grew rich on rice, and the wealth shows in the buildings along the Sangker River: shophouses and villas from the French colonial period stand in tighter, better-kept rows here than in Phnom Penh, largely because the city sat outside the worst of the Khmer Rouge’s later demolitions and postwar rebuilding pressure. It remains a working provincial capital rather than a preserved museum piece, with the rice trade, garment workshops and a growing arts scene all running alongside the old architecture rather than around it.
The city’s best-known attraction is a stretch of railway that most people picture wrong before they arrive. The original bamboo train, five kilometres outside town, still runs on a genuine section of working track, the same line that carries one passenger service and one freight service a day. When two of the flat bamboo-platform carts called norries meet coming from opposite directions, the lighter one is lifted clear of the rails to let the other through, then set back down, a piece of everyday improvisation that has become the ride’s main appeal. A newer attraction 21 km out, built near Wat Banan and marketed as the Banon Bamboo Train, uses its own purpose-built loop and turntable rather than a real railway, and functions as a small amusement park rather than the original experience; the two should not be confused.
Outside the old town and the bamboo train, Battambang’s surrounding countryside carries the region’s other draw: flat rice country dotted with small craft villages, hilltop temples and one of Cambodia’s most striking wartime cave sites.
Things to see and do
The original bamboo train
Five kilometres from town, running on genuine railway track; norries pass each other by lifting the lighter one off the rails.
Phnom Sampeau and its bat caves
A hilltop temple complex with wartime cave sites, and a sunset bat exodus numbering in the millions from a cave mouth below.
Wat Banan
A hilltop temple with five towers, older and steeper than most Angkor-region sites, reachable by a long staircase.
Battambang’s French colonial old town
Riverside shophouses and villas along the Sangker River, best covered slowly on foot.
Rice-paper and rice-cracker workshops
Small family workshops on the edge of town producing sheets of rice paper and pounded rice crackers by hand.
Phare Ponleu Selpak
An arts school and circus troupe founded to give young Cambodians a creative outlet, with public performances most weeks.
A single full day covers the bamboo train, Phnom Sampeau and the old town at a reasonable pace; a second day allows time for Wat Banan, the craft workshops or an evening Phare performance without rushing the rest.
Good to know
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original bamboo train | 5 km from town, on real railway track; around 5 USD shared, 10 USD for a private cart |
| Banon Bamboo Train | About 21 km from town, near Wat Banan; a separate purpose-built 3 km loop, around 7.25 USD for foreign visitors, aimed mainly at domestic tourism |
| Phnom Sampeau bats | Best timed for sunset, when the colony leaves the cave in a long, continuous stream |
| Getting there from Siem Reap | By road, roughly 3 hours |
| Waterway to Siem Reap | A boat route along the Sangker River and Tonle Sap connects the two towns, but only when the water level is high enough; it typically stops running in the dry season |
| Best season | November to February for cooler, drier weather |
Trips that include Battambang
Battambang works well as a two-day add-on to any Siem Reap itinerary, whether by road or, when conditions allow, by boat along the Sangker River. Let us know your dates and we will confirm the current route and fold it into your schedule.