New World Casino Hotel
For the only remotely upmarket experience in Svey Rieng, you have to join the high rollers at the New World Casino Hotel, opened in 2004. Technically in the nearby town of Bavet, this 172-room hotel is a stone's throw from the border crossing and features all the perks of civilization--spa, karaoke, restaurant, beauty salon, duty-free shopping and, of course, a casino.
Bavet, Cambodia
011 (+855) 44 945 870
newworldcasinohotel.com/
Tonle Waikor Hotel
The largest operation in Svay Rieng proper, the Tonle Waikor offers guests basic but spacious rooms with cable TV, fridge and air-conditioning. It is easy to find, as any form of public transport from the town market will almost automatically drop you here. A good option for clean rooms at reasonable prices.
Svay Rieng, Cambodia
011 (+855) 44 945 718
Guesthouse Row
Some 300 yards west of the Tonle Waikor Hotel is a cluster of guesthouses offering very basic rooms for $4 or $5 per night. For those looking for nothing more than a bed and a bathroom (that you may have to share), Santepheap Guesthouse is usually the one recommended in travel books. It doesn't offer anything more than its neighbors, however, and Samaki Guesthouse and Guesthouse Sopheak Mongkol are fine alternatives.
For a little more luxury (read air-conditioning and private bathroom), rooms at the Khmean Kangval Guesthouse run upward of $7 per night.
Article Written By Jeff Studebaker
Jeff Studebaker is a travel writer and recreational fisherman who started writing professionally in 2003 as a Bangkok-based reporter. Covering Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, he has published more than 1,000 articles in magazines including "Travel Trade Gazette," "MICE Magazine," and "Business Travel News." A psychology B.A. from Western Washington University, he is now based in Bellingham, Wash.
