Stilt houses at Kampong Khleang, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Tonle Sap stilt village

Kampong Khleang Homestay

The Tonle Sap after the tour boats have gone

In short

Kampong Khleang is the largest stilt village on the Tonle Sap, south-east of Siem Reap, with houses raised high above the dry-season ground. Local family homestays let you see the lake community after the day boats leave.

Checked

September 2026 - community tourism listings

Photo: Bahnfrend, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Part of our guide to Homestays in Siem Reap

At a glance

The short version

Province
Siem Reap
Getting there
About an hour by road from Siem Reap
Rooms
Family house, mattress and mosquito net, shared bathroom
Do
Boat trips into the flooded forest and out onto the lake, village walks, fishing life
Rates
Set by the community, confirmed on enquiry

Kampong Khleang is a real town on stilts – schools, pagodas and markets included – and far less visited than the lake villages closest to Siem Reap.

What a stay looks like

A room in a family’s stilt house, a sunset boat trip onto the lake and an early morning watching the fishing boats come in.

Good to know

Facilities are basic. Bring cash and a torch.

Questions travellers ask

When should I go?
From about August to December the water is high and the houses sit just above it; in the dry season you see the full height of the stilts.
Is it touristy?
Far less than the villages closer to Siem Reap.
Siem Reap

Other ways to stay here

All of them
Grand hotels and design resorts

Luxury hotels in Siem Reap

Siem Reap is where Cambodia does luxury properly. Colonial-era grand hotels sit near the Old French Quarter, and design-led resorts spread along the Charles de Gaulle road towards Angkor. Rates are a fraction of equivalent properties in Bangkok, and almost everything is within fifteen minutes of the temples.

Where they are
The Old French Quarter, the road towards Angkor, and quieter grounds across the river
What you pay for
Space, gardens, a real spa, and staff who handle the 4.30am temple start without complaint
Distance to Angkor
Fifteen minutes or less from almost anywhere in town
See the detail
Small, walled and green

Boutique hotels in Siem Reap

Boutique hotels are Siem Reap's strongest category. Small owner-run properties, many of them converted villas with a courtyard pool, cluster around Wat Bo and the lanes off the river. They cost a fraction of the resorts and are usually the better experience.

Where they are
Wat Bo across the river, and the lanes behind the Old French Quarter
Typical shape
Fifteen to thirty rooms around a courtyard pool, often a converted villa
Why here
Land was cheap enough to build small and green, and the market rewards character
See the detail
Where cheap is genuinely good

Budget hotels and hostels in Siem Reap

Siem Reap has more budget accommodation than it has budget travellers for most of the year, which keeps standards high and prices low. Private rooms with air conditioning and pool access are widely available at what would be dorm money elsewhere in the region.

Why it is cheap
Supply built for peak season has to fill in the other eight months
What you can expect
A private room, air conditioning, wifi and usually a pool
Where
Spread across town; the cluster near Pub Street is loudest and often the cheapest
See the detail
Beyond the temples

Homestays in Siem Reap

Siem Reap's homestays take you out of town: to Kampong Khleang, the largest stilt village on the Tonle Sap, and to the rice-farming commune of Chansor east of the city. Both are an hour or less from Siem Reap, and a world away from Pub Street.

Stay
With a family, arranged through the community
Rooms
Simple - mattress, mosquito net, shared bathroom
Pay
Cash, in US dollars or riel
See the detail