Best Time to Visit Kampot
By Jason for Discover Kampot Last checked:
The best time to visit Kampot for dry weather is November to February. But Kampot is a countryside town, and many of the things worth coming for are better in the rainy season, when the rice fields are green and the waterfalls are flowing. Cambodia has two seasons, but Kampot changes a lot within each: salt, pepper, durian, rice planting, harvests, and festivals all land at different times, so pick your dates around the one you care about most.
Dry Season: November to April
November to January
This is the easiest time to visit for dry weather. November is relatively cool and still green; December and January are hot and humid, but without the extreme heat that builds later in the season.
It is also harvest time. The countryside fills with golden paddies as families cut, bundle, thresh, and dry the year’s rice, and in town it dries on mats across sidewalks, yards, and the edges of quiet roads. By January the main harvest is mostly finished.
November is the start of kite season too. The northeast wind arrives reliably, and children fly surprisingly good homemade kites all over Kampot. It is also when the salt fields come back to life, building toward full production by January.
If your timing is lucky, the Water Festival (Bon Om Touk) usually falls in November: boat races, floating lanterns, and big crowds. Phnom Penh is the centre of it, but Kampot races on the river too.
February to April
February is hot and humid. March and April are hotter, the hardest stretch of the year. The fields are brown, the jungle is dry, and farmers burn off the old rice stubble, so on a still day the smoke can be annoying. This is not Kampot at its prettiest. Plan early starts, take a long mid-day break by the pool, and head back out in the late afternoon.
It is also peak season for what Kampot is best known for. The salt fields are at their best from January through April. Workers move across the shallow pans before dawn, raking the salt into white piles, the water reflecting the sky so it looks like they are collecting clouds. April brings the rarer flower of salt, skimmed from the surface in tiny quantities only in the warmest weeks. Most visitors stop at the roadside for a photo; the Salt Field Community Tour takes you in to meet the families who work the pans.
The pepper harvest runs February through April. The farms are open year round, but this is when you see the full operation: vines heavy with bunches, workers picking by hand, peppercorns drying on mats in the sun. They are not all the same, so the pepper farm guide breaks down the differences.
Palm sugar is made throughout the dry months. Men climb the palms barefoot to collect sap from the cut flowers, then boil it down by hand over wood fires with nothing added. You will find it at morning markets and roadside stalls.
The one thing that makes the heat worthwhile is Khmer New Year, April 14 to 16, the biggest holiday in the Cambodian calendar. Families return from the cities, music plays from the pagodas, and water gets thrown in the streets in a huge water fight. It is more than a party: the rains are close, and the country is about to be at its best again.
Rainy Season: May to October
May to July
This is when the countryside comes alive.
The rainy season gets a worse reputation than it deserves. It rains, often heavily, but usually in short bursts, most often once a day in the late afternoon or evening. You can see it coming, duck into a cafe for 15 or 20 minutes, and carry on. In between, the dust disappears, the paddies fill with water, and everything turns lush. Accommodation prices drop, restaurants have space, and the waterfalls around Kampot are flowing again.
May and June bring the mango rains, erratic evening showers named for the fruit season they start. Mangoes are suddenly everywhere, sometimes as little as $0.50 a kilo, alongside jackfruit and dragon fruit.
It is also durian season. Kampot durian is famous for its sweeter taste and milder smell, and from May the stalls appear along the roadsides and at the markets: you can follow the smell. People love it or hate it. If you have never tried durian, Kampot in May is where to do it.
The rice cycle begins again. The bright green baby rice in the nursery fields almost looks artificial, small rectangular patches of colour waiting to be moved into the larger paddies when the water is right.
By June and July the transplanting is underway. Young shoots are lifted from the nurseries and replanted by hand across the large paddies, people standing knee-deep in water, bent forward in rows, conical hats and krama scarves against the sun. Within weeks the fields turn a heavy green stretching to the hills, water buffalo wallow in the flooded paddies, egrets pick along the edges, and the lotus ponds bloom. It is my favourite season for the countryside cycling tour.
August to October
These are the deepest months of the green season, and the countryside looks its best. The rice grows tall and heavy, the river is at its highest, and the rain is regular but rarely all day. Tourists are thin on the ground and the town is quiet, which is much of the appeal if you want Kampot at its slowest.
This is also one of the best times to go out to Kampong Trach. The limestone cliffs there look their best when they are ringed by green rice fields, and it is one of the most picturesque landscapes in the province.
By October the rice starts to head and the fields feel heavy, some still vivid green, others shifting toward yellow as the rains ease and the harvest approaches.
The big observance now is Pchum Ben, usually September or October. For fifteen days the spirits of ancestors are believed to wander, and families gather at pagodas before dawn to leave food offerings on their behalf. The public holiday is three days, but the full fortnight affects opening hours and transport. If you are here, early morning at a pagoda is the time to see it.
Kathin follows the end of the monks’ rainy-season retreat, running October into November. It is less a date to plan around than something to notice while you are here: offerings move through town and the pagodas take in new robes and supplies.
Many of Cambodia’s most important dates follow the Buddhist lunar calendar, so they shift every year. Check the official Cambodia public holiday calendar if you are timing a trip around one.
Quick Reference
| What you want to see | Best months |
|---|---|
| Salt fields | January to April |
| Pepper harvest | February to May |
| Green and red pepper | April and May only |
| Flower of salt | April only |
| Palm sugar production | November to April |
| Mango rains and cheap mangoes | May and June |
| Durian season | May and June |
| Baby rice nurseries | May |
| Rice transplanting | June and July |
| Greenest rice fields | July to September |
| Rice harvest | November to January |
| Lotus in bloom | May to October |
| Kites flying | November to March |
| Visak Bochea | April or May |
| Royal Ploughing Ceremony | May |
| Khmer New Year | April 14 to 16 |
| Pchum Ben | September or October |
| Kathin ceremonies | October to November |
| Water Festival | Usually November |
| Driest weather | November to February |
| Most picturesque countryside | June to October |
| Cheapest and quietest | June to August |
What Kind of Traveller Are You?
The full Kampot experience: November or early December. Dry weather, green countryside, the rice harvest, kites flying, palm sugar starting, and the Water Festival if the timing works.
Festivals and local atmosphere: April for Khmer New Year, or November for the Water Festival. Both show you a Cambodian Kampot rather than a tourist one.
The greenest countryside, with fewer tourists: May through September. Bright baby rice, flooded paddies, people working by hand, water buffalo in the fields, and a quiet town at its cheapest.
Salt and pepper at their peak: February through April, when the harvests are in full swing.
Something you have never tasted: May, for Kampot durian, fresh green pepper, and cheap mangoes during the mango rains.
By November the rice is coming in, the salt workers are back in the fields before sunrise, and the cycle begins again.
Checked against:
The National Bank of Cambodia’s official public holiday calendar for Khmer New Year, Pchum Ben, Visak Bochea, the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, and other lunar-calendar dates, which shift every year.
Salt, pepper, durian, and rice-cycle timing checked directly with farmers and workers in the fields around Kampot.
Checked July 2026.
Further reading
How Long Should You Stay in Kampot?
How long to spend in Kampot, from one day passing through to a week of side roads, local spots, and not wanting to leave.
Kampot Pepper Farms: Which One Should You Visit?
Trying to choose between La Plantation, BoTree, Sindora, and Sothy's Pepper Farm? Here's how Kampot's best-known pepper farm visits compare.
