Kampot · With kids

The Khmer Cultural Development Institute has taught traditional music and dance to orphaned and disabled children here since 1994, and visitors can attend rehearsals and performances under rules the school sets out on its own site. Go for the music, not as a tour of an institution.

The Kampong Bay river above town is calm, warm and shallow at the edges, and the bungalow places rent kayaks, paddleboards and tubes by the hour. Late afternoon is the time, once the heat has gone and the boat traffic thins.

A stretch of shallow rocky river a few kilometres upstream where Cambodian families come at weekends to sit in the water and eat. There are stilted picnic platforms to hire and food stalls alongside; it is local rather than polished, and busiest on Sundays.

Once the heat drops, the shophouse blocks and the riverfront are genuinely good walking with children — low traffic, ice cream carts, and the durian roundabout as a landmark they will remember. It is the safest walking in Kampot and it costs nothing.

Nothing here is more than a few kilometres away, but the roads out of town have no footpaths and moto traffic does not slow down for anyone. Hire a tuk-tuk for the day rather than walking children along the verge, and keep the walking to the riverfront.