Kampot · Sports & events

Guided via ferrata, abseiling, caving and top-rope climbing on a limestone hill outside town, with guides and all gear supplied. Tours run from US$28 for the 2.5-hour Easy Climb to US$48 for the lead-climbing course; the four-hour Discovery Tour is US$40, starts 8.45am at the mountain, takes children from six, and the tuk-tuk transfer is US$5.

The park road climbs roughly 30km from the turn-off to a plateau at about 1,000m, and it is the reason road cyclists come to Kampot at all. Start before dawn — there is no shade and nowhere to refill on the way up — and carry something windproof for the descent.

The east-bank promenade is the only continuous flat traffic-free stretch in town and it is where Kampot runs, before seven and after five. Anything longer means the road out towards the salt fields — flat, quiet and completely unshaded.

Kampot has no side in the Cambodian Premier League. The nearest top-flight ground is Kirivong Stadium in southern Takeo province, home of Kirivong Sok Sen Chey; everything else in the league is Phnom Penh, Svay Rieng, Sihanoukville or further north.

Through the rains Bokor sits in cloud most days and the exposed roads out of town are no fun on a bike, which is why the cycling and running here concentrate in the dry half of the year. The caves are the exception — they stay cool and shaded whatever the sky is doing.