What's on in Kampot, Cambodia through the year

Peak crowds — travelers describe it as peak season, Dry season

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Dry season (15 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Salt harvest on the flats (15 Dec – 15 May (usually))

Busy — Dry season, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Kampot pepper harvest

  1 Feb – 15 May · usually

  Picking season on the trellises inland from town, which is when the farms are worth visiting and when the green pepper actually turns up fresh on a plate.

Still on: Dry season (15 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Salt harvest on the flats (15 Dec – 15 May (usually))

Busy — Dry season, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Kampot pepper harvest (1 Feb – 15 May (usually)), Dry season (15 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Salt harvest on the flats (15 Dec – 15 May (usually))

Peak crowds — Khmer New Year, Dry season

• Festival

  Khmer New Year

  13–16 AprWater-festival New YearCrowdedClosures

  The riverfront fills with Cambodian families and most of the foreign-run places take the days off. Getting a bus in or out either side of it is the hard part. Source ↗

Still on: Kampot pepper harvest (1 Feb – 15 May (usually)), Dry season (15 Nov – 30 Apr (usually)), Salt harvest on the flats (15 Dec – 15 May (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Season

  Bokor in cloud

  15 May – 31 Oct · usuallyFog season

  The plateau above town sits in the cloud base for most of the wet months, so the drive up buys you a white wall where the view is meant to be. Go early or not at all.

Still on: Kampot pepper harvest (1 Feb – 15 May (usually)), Salt harvest on the flats (15 Dec – 15 May (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in June.

Still on: Bokor in cloud (15 May – 31 Oct (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Bokor in cloud (15 May – 31 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Bokor in cloud (15 May – 31 Oct (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

• Festival

  Pchum Ben

  10 Sep – 10 Oct · usuallyMajor festivalClosures

  Fifteen days of pre-dawn offerings at the pagodas ending in a three-day national holiday, when the town's staff go home and a lot of kitchens close. Source ↗

Still on: Bokor in cloud (15 May – 31 Oct (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Bokor in cloud (15 May – 31 Oct (usually)), Pchum Ben (10 Sep – 10 Oct (usually))

Busy — Dry season

• Season

  Dry season

  15 Nov – 30 Apr · usuallyCrowded

  The months the river road, the pepper farms and the climb up Bokor all work on the same day. From March the afternoons on the riverfront are for shade and not much else.

Busy — Dry season, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Salt harvest on the flats

  15 Dec – 15 May · usually

  The pans between town and Kep are worked through the dry months, with the rakes out at first light and cones of salt along the road. The first rain ends it for the year.

Still on: Dry season (15 Nov – 30 Apr (usually))