How to Do Koh Rong Island on a Budget, Cambodia, 2025 Edition
If you don't want to break the bank on Koh Rong Island, read on
I lived on the famous Koh Rong Island for three weeks and explored every inch of it spending 479$ throughout the whole stay, (including the transport to and from the island). That sums up to around 23$/day.
Before coming here I read a bunch of articles and comments written by people who spent triple the amount. I also talked to other travelers who’d already been to Koh Rong, and warned me that this island was more expensive than any other place they’ve visited in the Indochina Peninsula. That obviously freaked me out because my monthly gross income is minus 400$.
Fortunately, as so many times before, I found that you should never take the “what people say” factor too seriously. If you want to do it on a budget, you’ll always find a way to cut the costs without cutting out any of the fun.
Here is the complete list of tips on how to visit Koh Rong Island on a budget.
Transport to the island
I have explained the subject of ferries at length in my article: Where To Stay On Koh Rong Island, but let me give you a little recap. The price for a return ticket for the ferry to and from Koh Rong or Koh Rong Samloem starts at 28$ but can get way more expensive depending on the availability, etc. Here are some tips on how to make it in the cheapest way possible:
Try to do it as early as possible. The price of the tickets fluctuates a lot and you might have a nasty surprise if you wait until the very last evening to book them.
I am a last-minute planner, so I did book my ticket on the last evening, but I organized it with my guesthouse in Siem Reap. The owner got me a great deal - a bus ticket from Angkor Wat to Koh Rong with the return ferry included for only 33$. Remember to ask at your front desk, you might strike gold, too.
Before you pick up your ferry ticket at the port, check where exactly is your accommodation on Koh Rong Island. Most ferries can drop you off at three spots: Kaoh Touch Pier and Long Set Pier on the main island or Saracen Bay Pier on Koh Rong Samloem. If your hostel is at Long Set and you get off at Kaoh Touch, you’re gonna have to pay an additional 10$ for a tuk-tuk to the right beach. If your accommodation is on Koh Rong Samloem and you get off at the main island that’s even more shit. (You might think this is an unlikely scenario, yet I almost did that)
If you want to travel from Koh Rong to Koh Rong Samloem (or the other way around), there is a 5$ ferry working between the islands. Don’t listen to Uncle Google who says you need to go back to Sihanoukville in order to grab a ferry.
Transport around the island
Let’s say you stay on the main island, you got there alright and now you’re wondering how much it’s gonna cost you to move around the place. You have four options: taxi boats, tuk-tuks, moto-taxis, or renting your own scooter. I’ve never used a taxi boat, since it’s the most expensive of all options, but let’s take a look at the rest:
Tuk-tuks. You’ve gotta put your haggle on. Whatever price they tell you, divide it in two and stick with it. The first price we heard for the Long Set - Lonely Beach transfer was 15$/person. Ha-ha. We ended up getting it down to 15$/ride and squeezed in a third person, so each of us only paid 5$.
Moto taxis. Theoretically, they should be less expensive than tuk-tuks, but very often you’ll hear the same price. Again - get used to haggling. This is a cheaper option if you are just one person, plus there are some places around the island where you can only get on a scooter like Lonely Beach.
Don’t even talk to drivers at the main piers. The prices they’ll give you are ridiculous. Walk a little bit away from the main tourist zone and hail a taxi passing by to get a better price.
The best and cheapest option without a doubt is renting your own scooter. Even if you’ve never sat on a moto in your life, Southeast Asia is the place to try. Automatic scooters are super easy to drive and this island is perfect to learn; the roads are (mostly) in good condition and it’s almost completely flat. The rental price you’ll see in the center is 15$/day - don’t fall for it. You should pay 10$/day and with a full tank too. My favorite place is Scooter Rental by Maloop. They gave us an additional discount for a long-term rental and delicious bananas from their garden. <3
Accommodation
Again, I have to send you back to my other article with all the best budget accommodations on the island, but just to give you an idea; you’re looking at 6-11$/night for a tent, 8-15$/night for a bed in a dorm, and 20-45$/night for a double room or a bungalow. Here are some tips on how to save most on your accommodation:
Don’t ignore tents. This is the first place I’ve ever paid to stay in a tent. I usually just carry it on my back, and the idea of paying for one seemed weird to me at first, but some of them are almost like having your own room. Electricity, ventilator, light, clean towels, comfy bed, sometimes even a little water tap, and all that for a few bucks per night. In my opinion way better than a crowdy dorm.
Team-up. I currently travel with my partner, and I still can’t get over the fact how much money you can save by sharing accommodation. With an average price of 11$/bed in a dorm, two people can already get a private room for the same money. I know not everybody travels in couples, but I used to travel alone all the time, and the amount of new friends I made on the road was always astonishing. If you get along with somebody, why not share a bungalow and get some rest from the 10-bed mixed dormitories for a night or two?
Book in advance whenever possible. I know I’m not inventing gold here, but honestly, I went through the first five months of our Southeast Asia trip booking accommodation while sitting on a bus to the next destination. I don’t recommend it for Koh Rong. The island is extremely popular, especially among young (and broke) travelers, so budget rooms and tents are in high demand. We only managed to get that 7$ tent in Bunnan Bungalows or a 13$ bungalow in Lonely Beach, because we booked them a week before.
Before booking check if there’s a drinking water station where you can refill your bottle for free or for a small charge. In our first accommodation, a 6$ tent, they only sold 1.5l water bottles for a dollar. We drank around four bottles a day so in the end the price per night came up to 10$/day, not to mention the terrifying plastic waste. In another place on the same beach, we paid 7$/tent but the drinking water was free, so we essentially saved 3$ every night and Mother Nature loved us for it too.
Check if your accommodation has any other perks. They might have discounts on tours or maybe even paddle boards or kayaks you can use for free. That’s how we did our snorkeling tour for no cost at all.
Food
Koh Rong is more expensive than the Cambodian mainland, which is almost always the case with islands. That being said, you can still find cheap food, especially if you know where to look.
Obviously, the first thing you wanna do once you get to your beach is to compare the prices and quality with other venues around. Don’t settle for your hotel restaurant (or do it only after you’ve seen that’s the best option around). My favorite spots with great prices and portion sizes are Family Guesthouse in Kaoh Touch, Jiji Koh Rong in Long Set, and Bunnan Bungalows on Coconut Beach.
If you are vegetarian and you ask for some plate minus the meat, the price should be lower, but in many places, they won’t acknowledge that unless you ask. Instead of saying “Can I have that without meat?” better ask “What’s the price for a vegetarian version?”
Don’t be afraid to ask for a few tweaks in the menu, especially if you’re staying somewhere for a long time and you know you’re gonna be coming back to that particular restaurant often. For example: there’s a “pancakes with fruits” option in the menu, in which you get three pancakes and a sliced banana. Ask if you can have a fourth pancake instead of the “fruits” and then just buy a bunch of bananas for a dollar. That way you can even share it with somebody and pay 3.50$ instead of 7$ for a breakfast for two.
Which brings me to the next point: stack up on fruits. I really don’t understand why are fruits so expensive here. A fruit plate costs between 3-4$ and they give you half a mango a banana and some dragon fruit. Instead, go to a cheap fruit stand (there’s a bunch of them on the road between Long Set and Coconut Beach) and buy a huge bag for 8$ so that you can eat a little bit every day. We saved a lot of money that way, especially at the Lonely Beach. We would order a “plain pancake” for 2.50$ and then top it up with a mountain of fruits which would otherwise cost us an additional 3$ each. At the end of the week, that’s 42$ saved, which we could spend on an additional six nights in a tent!
Search for cheaper, local food stands. It might seem obvious to some, but it’s still not common knowledge among travelers. Take some time, get out of the main tourist zone, where the restaurants are catering to foreigners, and search for the places where locals eat. I assure you that they don’t pay 5$ for their curry. If you prefer to save a few bucks over eating at the beach, go into the side streets, and away from the crowd. You might end up finding a real culinary gem. Our favorite snack on Koh Rong was sweet potato fries made by a woman somewhere on the main street not far from the entrance to Coconut Beach. She always gave us a huge back for a dollar.
Activities
Now that we got you to the island, you have accommodation, and your belly is full, it’d be nice to actually do something around here, right? I’m not gonna dwell on the subject, because I wrote a whole separate article about the best things to do on Koh Rong on a budget (be sure to check it out!), but here are a few tips:
You can do many of the tours offered on Koh Rong Island on your own. Snorkeling, plankton-watching, hiking to the waterfalls, kayaking… You can do all that for free or for an extremely low price. I explained the how-to and where-to in the article I mentioned, but just remember that tour companies want you to believe that paying 30$ for a boat trip is your only option to see plankton or underwater life while you can easily get to some of the best spots by yourself.
Again - rent a moto. There are so many great beaches around the island, but if you want to visit them all by taxi you’re gonna spend a fortune. There are very few excuses I will accept if you opt for tuk-tuks instead, and being scared of driving a moto is not one of them. If you are 113 or you intend to get so drunk you won’t know where your feet are, then you’re excused.
Thank you for reading! If you have any questions hit me on Instagram, I’m always happy to help a fellow traveler.
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