Sihanoukville: the vibe
Videos from people who went, played right here, with what viewers said underneath. Not part of the score.
The verdict
Avoided · 24Recent accounts paint Sihanoukville as unsafe and changed, with crime, scam-linked trafficking and casino sprawl; only a promotional video and nostalgia offer any upside.
- beaches (nostalgia)
- cheap past backpacker scene
- infrastructure upgrades (promo only)
- crime and robbery
- unhelpful police
- scams and trafficking
- casinos and cybercrime
- abandoned resorts
- poverty and beggars
- Chinese-driven overdevelopment
- Many past visitors say the city feels unsafe now.
- The backpacker charm people remember has largely vanished.
- Scam-compound links make it a poor choice for remote work.
- Investment-style promo videos conflict with firsthand warnings.
- Safety-minded remote workers should look at other Cambodian or regional options.
Read from 4 videos, 28 comments and 0 posts on 2026-11-07; the summary is written by a language model and can misread sarcasm.
The Dark Side of Sihanoukville 🇰🇭 | Is This Asia’s Worst City?
Ola Lily · 145K views · 2025
What viewers said
“I have been there and been robbed by Cambodians but the disgusting thing is that the police did not help me at all. After that, I never went there again. It was very scary.”
♥ 436 likes
“Cambodia people need to get rid of dictator Hunsin and his corrupt family. Cambodia people deserve better than this.”
♥ 402 likes
“Be careful when traveling in Cambodia. Last month, a French woman named Lisa Girard was killed after disappearing during a solo run near Angkor Wat. My friend was also robbed while walking in an alley in Phnom Penh three months ago.”
♥ 159 likes
“I honestly don’t understand why anyone would want to go to Cambodia. The country is overwhelmed by crime, gangs, and poverty—garbage and beggars are everywhere. Where people used to be friendly, now scams are the norm. Many tourists and for”
♥ 180 likes
“I stayed in Sihanoukville back in 2011 and it was a backpacker's paradise. It was a small place, no buildings at all. Serendipity beach was beautiful, had a hippie vibe and it was by far the cheapest place I've ever been. It was also, where”
♥ 18 likes
“People should know that in Sihanoukville, prostitution is just the tip of the iceberg. There have been many reports of human trafficking and forced labor in scam operations there. A lot of the victims are young people from poor or remote ar”
♥ 95 likes
“In 2003 the place was a simple nice village. No tall buildings, no BS malls, casinos. The beaches was untouched, loots of locals that owned bungalows on beach sides, and it was just amazing. So sad to see what have happened to Sihanoukville”
♥ 20 likes
“ประเทศนี้ อันตรายมาก เธอโชคดีมาก ที่รอดชีวิตกลับมาได้”
♥ 170 likes
“I visited many beaches in Cambodia. Kampong Saom used to be amazing before it was renamed Sihanoukville and turned into a Chinese hub. Now, it looks so depressing—it's like a graveyard.”
♥ 65 likes
“This country has a lot of crime and might be the most dangerous in the world." "If someone wants to take an 80% risk of dying, they should come here."”
♥ 53 likes
Found with a YouTube search for the city and “digital nomad”, fetched 2026-11-07; titles, descriptions and comments belong to their authors and link to the originals.