Best Western River Palace Hotel

Set on Sothearos Boulevard directly beside the Royal Palace, Palace Gate Hotel & Resort occupies ground once held by the French colonial administration in Phnom Penh. Its centrepiece is an 80-year-old villa that served as headquarters for the commander of the French army in Cambodia, its columns and Cambodian tilework intact. The villa now houses Mealea Restaurant, serving French and Royal Khmer dishes, while herbs and vegetables come from an organic garden on site. Riverside's Sisowath Quay is a short walk away. Rooms run from a 32 m² Apsara Deluxe Double up to a 95 m² Palace Suite, with balcony and pool-view categories in between. Camsense Spa draws on Asian healing traditions and locally sourced ingredients for its treatments, and a gym sits alongside the pool. In the evening, the Organic Skybar looks over the Royal Palace at sunset, and the ground-floor Orchid Bar opens onto the street opposite the palace gates. It is a hotel built around one old building rather than several new ones. Guests can cross from the pool terrace to a colonial dining room without leaving the property, a rare arrangement in a city where the two eras rarely share an address.