THE LUXURY TRAVEL
MAGAZINE FOR INDEPENDENT
TRAVELLERS

After travelling through Cambodia for a month, we thought we’d seen it all. Big hotels, small hotels, hotels in the middle of nature and those on bustling city streets. Traditional hotels, modern hotels, and something in between. But we hadn’t seen anything like Knai Bang Chatt. This is probably because there isn’t anything else like Knai Bang Chatt.

Built between 1962 and 1965 by three different architectural protégés of Vann Molyvann, himself greatly influenced by Le Corbusier, the hotel initially consisted of three separate villas (one of which belonged to the governor of Kep, the other which was owned by a relative of the King). The villas were abandoned in 1970 and remained so during the Khmer Rouge years, right up until 2003, when Jef Moons and Boris Vervoordt, holidaying from Belgium, decided to buy the villas, have them restored, and open a hotel. They needed a further building to make it financially viable, however, and so five years ago a fourth villa was built. I challenge you to figure out which is the most recent building – they all blend together so perfectly.

Although, perhaps that’s not the point. The unusually blocky shapes, open roofs and curiously placed staircases of the villas don’t lend themselves to blending in. Nor does the recent paint job – each of the four villas boasts a new coat of pastel paint, one pale blue, one baby pink, one grey and one light yellow. It should be cheesy or jarring, but somehow it works. Believe it or not, the Easter-egg coloured villas actually bring out the beauty of the 180-degree view of the ocean and the lush green of the sweeping lawn.

Of course, this could also be because the hotel as a whole is so understated and tasteful. Polished coffee cement floors, rough pottery lamps and large wooden tables adorn an otherwise empty room – save for a large bed on a wooden platform, made up in plain white linen with a hanging mosquito net. Instead of side tables, there are sections of logs, and the main decoration is a large bleached whale bone on the end of the bed. No pictures, no TV, no unnecessary decorations, and yet it’s beautiful. Stunningly beautiful. The bathrooms are similarly spare, the dressing room is a series of open wooden shelves, and the only hints of colour come through the windows from the garden outside, and from the single lotus in a brown pottery vase, accented by a few green leaves. The absence of decoration allows the warmth of the natural tones and the wood to speak for themselves.

Scattered around the hotel you’ll also find charming pieces of antique-looking wood and pottery, placed seemingly haphazardly at the end of the breakfast table (a long slab of wood which looks as if it has been chopped straight out of a tree), or next to the pool, on the grey bleached wooden deck. It’s these small, seemingly offhand touches that give Knai Bang Chatt so much character, along with the emphasis on the view – all loungers, tables, chairs and day beds point out to the ocean.

Granted, it’s an ocean worth looking at. In fact, breakfast at Knai Bang Chatt may go down as one of my favourite breakfast spots ever, not so much for the deliciously fresh croissants and fresh fruit platters, as because it is eaten either at the wooden plank table (which is perhaps a little too large to be comfortable) or at a small wooden table on a small wooden deck, as close to the ocean as you can get without being in it. Starting the day off with a view like that is a pretty unforgettable way to begin any day.

Regrettably, the service doesn’t quite live up to the architectural and natural beauty. The staff are all extremely friendly and polite, but they haven’t been trained to a five-star level. At the breakfast buffet, we ran out of coffee, fruit salad, butter and knives, and had to remind the staff to replenish the supplies. We were given a welcoming letter on arrival, which told us that the traditional kramas (Cambodian scarves) on our bed were a complimentary welcoming gift – but the kramas were nowhere to be found, and we left without ever seeing one. Not a problem if we hadn’t been told about it, but once the expectation is there, it’s a let-down when it isn’t met.

For a change of pace (although unfortunately still slow service) head for the Sailing Club, Knai Bang Chatt’s next-door-neighbour, open to the public and serving a lighter menu of mainly seafood and snack food (the hotel restaurant offers decadent three-course meals for lunch and dinner). You can also hire a catamaran or a kayak from the Sailing Club, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more suitable spot for sundowners (the wooden pier stretching out into the sea will doubtless feature in many a holiday scrapbook for years to come).

But it’s Knai Bang Chatt itself that stole our hearts. The architecture, the ever-friendly staff, the infinity pool that begs you to spend a whole day in it, and, of course, That View, will win you over. It won’t be too hard to believe that you’ve somehow managed to uncover the most beautiful hotel in Cambodia.