Pursat

Pursat town is small enough that it can be explored on foot; however, if you stay a night in a guesthouse, exploring the sights with a rental bicycle is a more leisurely option. If you are passing through with a hired car, you can combine driving and walking to easily see the sights in an hour or two.

The majority of Pursat town lies in the NW quadrant framed by the roughly S-N flowing Stung Pursat River and the E-W orientation of National Road 5. At the intersection of the road and river lie the old museum and the pursat-new-market (just north of the museum), with restaurants, hotels, and guest-houses situated along the roads north and west of the intersection.

Farther north, along the riverside are the government offices, including the tourism office, and several parks, including koh-sampovmeas, a ‘park’ built upon a concrete boat within the river. Additional French-colonial structures, the town’s primary Buddhist Wats, and the marble-carving village of bontee-dae are situated to the east of the river.

• Kampong Luong: (Floating Village) - located about 20 miles from town on Tonle Sap Lake are these pretty floating villages, which make an interesting daytrip.
• Bontee Dae: small marble-carving shops are along the eastern side of the river road, where you can buy a souviner for next to nothing.
• Bunrany Hun Sen Vocational Craft Training Center: if you have time in Pursat, you can do courses here in cloth weaving, mat weaving, and marble carving.
• Koh Sampovmeas: an island park in the city with nice lawns and Khmer-style pavilions.
• Neak Ta Khleang Moung A spirit shrine dedicated to a Cambodian general.

Pursat shares its tropical climate with the rest of Cambodia; a ‘dry season’ that lasts from November to May and a ‘rainy season’ that runs from June to October. Temperatures are relatively constant (i.e. hot) throughout the year but humidity can vary. There are times of the year that are noticeably cooler or hotter, and as is normal for a monsoon climate, times when heavy rain is nearly constant. Pursat is fine to visit during most of the year, though the hottest months from March to May can be too hot for comfort.

Humidity and rainfall may vary through the year, but Pursat is typically hot. Few visitors will experience something they would call cool. Temperatures in the day range throughout the year from above 100°F in the early afternoon to around 70°F at night.

The hottest time of the year in Pursat is toward the end of the dry season, when daytime temperatures can be dangerously hot. During the wet season, although copious amounts of rain are dumped on Pursat with monotonous regularity, rainstorms and thunderstorms often last just one or two hours in the afternoon.

While monsoon rains may provide respite from the intense Cambodian sun, torrential rains wreak havoc on rural dirt roads, which become muddy morasses; travel to areas serviced by these roads, such Veal Veng can become difficult to impossible in the monsoon season months (June-October) for those without 4-wheel drive vehicles or off-road motorcycles.

While Pursat is conveniently located along National Road 5 between Phnom Penh and Batdambang, few tourists choose to stop for long. While there is not a great number of attractions in Pursat, the town features a handful of interesting sights and exudes a relaxing country vibe, making it an enjoyable 2-3 hour pit-stop along the way to/from Battambang and Phnom Penh, or an overnight stay if you wish to visit some of the surrounding attractions, including a floating village and a bizarre shrine.

The first thing you may notice in Pursat town is the town museum, for tourism purposes now nothing more than an elegant landmark that was built in the 1960s. Just north of the museum is the Pursat New Market.

Moving north along the Stung Pursat River are various statues to one side and colonial-style government buildings to the other, leading along the river to Koh Sampovmeas (Golden Boat Island), Pursat town’s main tourist attraction: a 55 yard-long island park in the shape of a boat. Beyond the park there are some riverside dining options where it can be enjoyable to watch children frolic in the river.

Wat Po, Wat Bontee Dae, and Wat Geaumunee are three active Buddhist monastaries in Pursat town and are situated on the eastern side of the river. Each exude rural Cambodian charm and tranquil temple atmosphere. As there is not a whole lot to do in Pursat, each are worth a visit while exploring the town on foot or bicycle.

Founded over 200 years ago, the main pagoda at Wat Bontee Dae was rebuilt more than 100 years ago, though the Buddha that it houses is supposedly the original. To the east of Wat Bontee Dae’s temple grounds is the marble carving village of Bontee Dae. When open, the Bunrany Hun Sen Vocational Craft Training Center is an additional location to witness traditional handicrafts skills at work and purchase souvenirs.

Beyond Pursat

Venturing beyond the town of Pursat, there are a few particularly noteworthy attractions, including Kampong Luong floating village and the spirit shrine of Neak Ta Khleang Moung. Other activities include eco-tourism in the nearby Cardamom Mountains, including the Phnom Sankos Wildlife Sanctuary, a remote preserve in the westernmost portion of the province by the Thai border, and Aoral Wildlife Sanctuary, another remote preserve on the southeastern border shared with Kampong Speu Province.

The also remote provincial town of Veal Veng lies along the “Cardamom Highway,” a rugged dirt road that connects central Cambodia to coastal Koh Kong and has been upgraded in recent years to allow visitors in 4-wheel drive vehicles the possibility of traveling between the two provinces.

Although fairly isolated, Pursat has a direct highway connection with the country’s capital, Phnom Penh, which is just over 187km away to the southeast; Batdambang lies 104 kilometers to the northwest.

Bus is the primary public transportation option for getting to Pursat as there are regular services throughout the day on the Phnom Penh-Batdambang route, a major artery of goods (and people) traveling between the Thai border and the Cambodian capital. Trip time is approximately 3-4 hours from the capital and 90 minutes to/from Batdambang by car or bus.

It is also possible to get to Pursat via share taxi, particularly if you are traveling from Phnom Penh to Batdambang and only wish to stop in Pursat for a few hours and visit the sights, such as Kompong Luong floating village along the way. The drive in a taxi is considerably faster than the trip by bus, though it is also considerably more expensive.

Pursat is quite small and can be explored on foot if you have time to do so in a leisurely way. If you are staying in a guesthouse, many have bicycles you can hire for around $1/day; these are easily the most enjoyable for touring around town. There are a few freelance moto-dop taxis here and there, but there are not many as the town is small and most residents have their own transportation or simply walk from a to b.

There are limited accommodation options in Pursat. Most accommodation options are inexpensive and generally unimpressive, though the town is not particularly popular with overnight visitors and its small enough that you can scout the options and take your pick of rooms quite easily.

Pursat has limited dining options; in addition to restaurants at guesthouses there are a few restaurants along the riverside to the north of Koh Sampovmeas island park.

There is almost no nightlife to speak of in Pursat, certainly not any catering to foreign tourists. There are a few small local-style beer bars in town, which are basically open-air establishments that have attractive waitresses to serve beers and/or whiskey.

The new market is geared towards more local shoppers than tourists, though Pusat oranges are readily available here. On the east side of the Pursat River are several marble carving workshops that sell their wares, including those in bontee-dae village where you can purchase carvings directly from those actively producing the fine marble works of art.