Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, Kratie, Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri.. (Northeast Cambodia Loop) – 2. Route

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The Northeast Cambodia loop takes us from Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham, followed by Kratie, Stung Treng, Ban Lung (Ratanakiri), Sen Monorom (Mondulkiri) and Prey Veng before bringing us back to Phnom Penh. It is best to plan at least seven days for the trip. In order to ride at a reasonable pace with adequate time for sightseeing, I would suggest planning ten days for the loop. Personally, I spent nine days for the trip, with the last 2 days in Phnom Penh. The total distance I traveled was around 1500km.


Map of Cambodia and route taken

The roads near Phnom Penh are in good condition. However, these tarmac roads gradually deteriorate into dirt and gravels as you traveled further away from Phnom Penh. Of course, the Death Highway between Banlung and Sen Monorom is on another level altogether. But with the road constructions that have been going on around Cambodia, things might improve in the near future.


Road building in earnest


I wonder if every vehicle will try to keep to the left lane


Better part of the Death Highway

In Cambodia, it is easy to know that you have arrived at a major town or city. In almost all the towns and cities I have visited, there is always a monument with a roundabout. It also serves as a good point of reference for us to get our bearings.


Monument with roundabout


As usual, you will find helpful road signs and kilometer stones along the way.

You should not have problems finding petrol in Cambodia. If you do not see petrol stations in villages, you can still find stalls by the road sides selling bottled petrol. Remember to top up your tank whenever you can, especially if you are not sure of the distance to the next village.

Since I brought along my Garmin GPS receiver during this trip, I tracked my routes and took down my waypoints. If you would like a copy of the files, just post a comment and I will send the download link to your email. The size of the file is around 1.7MB.

90 thoughts on “Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, Kratie, Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri.. (Northeast Cambodia Loop) – 2. Route”

  3. hey you. i came overland from europe to cambodia on my old bmw. i´m already in Ban Lung and will drive down to Sen Monorom soon. it would be great to have the waypoints and the track.
    thanks in advance

    bernhard

  4. Greetings from Singapore!

    File sent to your email.

    What an adventure you must be having, I am using Google Translate to read your blog. 🙂

  5. thanks for the file! it is maybe a little bit difficult to read my blog even with google translate because i somtimes use my austrian german which is a spezial dialekt… sorry for that, but enjoy the pictures 😉

    again thanks for the file, take care

    bernhard

  8. Hey man, nice blog posts. Mine kind of travel. Could I get the GPS placemarks for the routes in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand from you? Are you taking any trips soon?

  9. Hi Ben,

    Link to files sent to your email.

    I am making a trip in November. Maybe will do a bit of riding in Nepal, but unconfirmed at the moment.

  10. Hi I came from Singapore to Saigon , via Malaya, Burma Thailand, Cambodia in 1965 on a BMW rs 6,(if i remember correctly, And 2 years go Saigon to hanoi on a vespa –pre 1975 model,Now am back in Cambodia , Kampot area,and planning the Death Road run, in next 2 weeks, would like your waypoints and any current description of roads and am thinking of using an ordinary honda small bike, (used it a number of times in VN -Saigon to Da Lat and on mud roads near here ,,kampot, Thank you

  11. Hi Declan,

    Impressive riding history! A small Honda wave is fine. That’s what the locals rode through the death highway when I was there. GPS link has been sent to your email. Have a great trip!

  12. hi there,
    looks great! planning a route myself, would really appreciate a copy of your route. have you rode anywhere else in cambodia since?
    Thanks a lot,
    Tony

  18. Hi there,
    your route sounds just like what im looking for.
    Thank for all the info, could you please send me your GPS way point and route?

  20. Hi, I am planning a ride to Cambodia, and would like to closely follow your route. It will be great if you can share your GPS coordinates. Thanks.

  24. Planning for PHN – Kratie – Rattanakiri (5 days). Please let me know if you have any recommendations.

  25. Hi Niran Vishnu,

    I guess you would be following the same route as I.

    Probably 1 night each at Kampong Cham, Kratie and Strung Treng. The rest of the time at Banlung.

  26. Hi, this is a great trip!
    We’ve been to Cambodia 2 times with organized enduro-trips and now we are planning to go there on our own. Could you kindly send me your gps route as well, it’ll help a lot. Thank you for sharing!

  29. Hi,

    Nice blog!

    Is it possible to send me your GPS file (1.7mb) of the death highway ?
    I will do it also in January 13.

    Kind regards

  31. Hey,
    ur page was very helpful for me, thanks for ur work!
    Could u give me a favor and drop me ur GPS route in my email address?
    Regards, Flo

  33. Hey – would love to have that link as well. planning to do this route in a couple weeks!
    Also thanks for the awesome blog – so informative.

  35. Great info. I am cycling in from le thanh in vietnam and want to ride in cambodia and laos especially along the mekong river. If you have any suggestuons on how to plan my route it woyld be great. Please send me a link to the map as well. Thanks.

  37. Thanks very much for sharing your interesting journey. I am planning to do the same trip in december and it would be great to have your gps records. Thanks very much, dominiwue

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