Kep is a twenty minute ride away from Kampot.  There are plenty of companies that run minivans between the two cities, but the most efficient way to get there is to hire a tuk tuk for the ride.  I went with a minivan and the 20 minute journey ended up taking closer to one hour given the time it took to pick everyone up.

Kep is a bit more spread out and a lot mellower than Kampot which is saying something given that Kampot isn’t exactly a bustling metropolis.  There isn’t all that much to do in Kep aside from visiting the crab market area, touring the rice fields around the mountains and enjoying sunsets by the beach.  And because the best spot to catch the sunset was the Sailing Club, I ended up having dinner there twice. 

My dinner on the first night, squid in a pepper sauce (they have access to Kampot’s pepper in Kep so the food can be quite good though this squid was just mediocre):

 

The area around the crab market is a 15 minute walk from the Sailing Club.  There are restaurants along the water next to the market.  I’d recommend the places further away from the market as the market itself can be quite smelly and I spotted some rats in the nearby restaurants. I ended up at Mab Phsar Kdam which proved to be a mellow place for editing photos:

 

It was raining for much of the following morning, but in the afternoon I was able to venture out on a rented motorcycle to explore the area:

 

The beach looks lovely but it was pretty dirty:

 

I ended up at Mab Phsar Kdam again for lunch.  Their crab in fresh pepper sauce was amazing:

 

After lunch I went to check out the rice paddies near the surrounding mountains.  The actual mountain paths are quite lovely but very difficult to navigate without a mountain bike or dirt bike.  I had to turn back after a few kilometres:

 

Sunset at the Sailing Club, followed by some tasty fish tacos:

 

The following morning I took a day trip out to Rabbit Island.  Most hotels can organize a boat with hotel pick-up for very little money.  The island was nice enough, but the side you arrive at is absolutely covered in garbage.  The other side is nicer, but still quite dirty.  Many people spend a night there in the modest grass huts available to tourists:

 

I’ll leave you with one more shot of a sunset at the Sailing Club: