Cambodia Hotel Guide :: Historic Raffles Hotel Le Royale

Where: 92 Rukhak Vithei Daun Penh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

September 23, 2008 at 9:20 AM | by ced138 | 0 Comments

HotelChatter and Jaunted Contributing Editor Claire Duffett is now reporting from Cambodia and this week she is giving us the low-down on the hotel scene. Any questions about accommodations? Send 'em to us and we'll get them answered for ya.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, has distanced itself from its sordid past. Hotel Le Royale, now part of the five-star Raffles chain, was built in 1929 during the heyday of French imperialism. There, writers and journalists rubbed elbows with royalty and dignitaries. It was all very Casablanca, Southeast Asian-style.

Then, in the mid 1970s, foreign journalists took refuge there when the notorious Khmer Rouge came to power, killing and imprisoning foreigners, educated Cambodians, and pretty much anyone else deemed unacceptable. Part of the film The Killing Fields was set there.

In the years of turmoil that followed, the hotel sat empty. In 1997, it reopened, restored to its previous glory. Today, once again, visitors will find wealthy Cambodians and foreigners sipping fancy cocktails inside the hotel's Elephant Bar. Or perhaps, getting massages at the hotel's Amrita Spa.

Guests can stay in any of the hotels 170 rooms, apartments, and suites, and indulge in the standard spa/luxe pool/decadent feasts available at any establishment swank enough to bear the Raffles name. Rates start around an affordable $282 a night.

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