Shells and water on Koh Thmei, Cambodia

Taken on: 24th January, 2011. Copyright: All Rights Reserved - See travelfishery's page of Flickr

Read more about Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville is Cambodia's premier beach location, a peninsula ringed by pretty whiteish-sand beaches and surrounded by a smattering of tiny islands. Debate rages over whether its beaches will ever seriously rival those that lure the hordes to neighbouring Thailand, but given international tourism's insatiable appetite for new places, we think they will ... eventually ... one day ... maybe; at least, the international developers who have snapped up many of the islands on long-term leases are hoping so.

Cambodia's youngest city, Sihanoukville town sprang to life in 1955 when a construction team arrived at what was then known as Kompong Som to begin work on Cambodia's first (and only) deep water port. When the port was finished in 1960 the area was renamed Sihanoukville (in honour of then King Sihanouk) but many Cambodians continue to ... Read our complete Sihanoukville travel guide

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