Sam Taroth had never set foot on a sailing boat. Two days at the Discovery and Sailing Center in Kep West, on a Hobie Cat and then in a kayak, left her with a sentence she is happy to repeat. From 6 to 8 November, the centre opens its doors to the public for Wind, Waves and a Beach Party, the weekend that starts the high season at Coco Beach.

Guitarist Christophe Astolfi, a respected name in European Gypsy jazz, is in Kep. On Saturday 31 October he shares the stage at The Wave with Argentine singer and guitarist Enrique De Feo, as part of the Art for Kep – Music City artistic programme.

From 6 to 8 November, Kep West kicks off the season with “Wind, Waves and a Beach Party”. A film on the beach on Friday. A full day on the water on Saturday, followed by a sunset barbecue with live music. Then half-price rentals on Sunday. Come for one evening or stay the whole weekend.

Pheakday Phang is 40. He comes from Kampot province and has worked at Knai Bang Chatt for six years. As resident manager, he runs the resort and Kep West’s Discovery Center.

At the Kep West Wellness Center, the facial starts in the kitchen rather than a jar. Mango for vitamin C, pressed cucumber for the tonic, yogurt, a little lavender. Sam Taroth has already tried yoga and massage here. This time she hands her face to Mao Sophear, the center's Senior Spa Therapist.

Among the pleasures of a stay at Kep West, dinner at Crab & Co ranks high. Sam Taroth took a seat one evening at the resort's seafront restaurant. Sophy Ouch, Food & Beverage Manager, welcomed her at the table as the house's best-selling dish arrived: a long wooden board of grilled fish and seafood, all landed fresh on the Kep coast.

A few dozen minutes off the coast of Kep, a former wartime outpost is being reborn as a sanctuary for Cambodia's marine life. Marine Conservation Cambodia, a partner of Kep West's Art for Kep programme, runs its research base here — and Kep West organises trips out to the island for guests curious to see the work firsthand.

There are towns that serve seafood, and there is Kep. Long before the phrase "farm to table" entered anyone's vocabulary, Kep's fishermen were already living it — hauling in blue crab and mackerel at dawn, selling it still glistening at the market by the water an hour later.

Just a few kilometres from Kampot, between pepper plantations and karst hills, a stretch of water carries a name that is both intriguing and misleading: the Secret Lake. Far from being a simple scenic spot, this man-made body of water holds the memory of a dark period in Cambodian history. Today, Kep West's Discovery Center runs kayak trips here, gliding silently between drowned trees and water lilies, through one of the most striking landscapes in the province.

Le récit personnel de quelques jours où le Golfe, un tapis de yoga et une pagaie de kayak se sont ligués pour défaire des mois de fatigue urbaine.

One name keeps coming up on Phnom Penh's music scene: Arôme Khmer. This fusion band draws on Cambodia's golden era to craft a sound that is thoroughly contemporary, one that appeals equally to fans of Khmer psychedelic rock and to lovers of world music — and it is also a regular presence on the Kep West stage, where it performs once a month.

Some places are visited. Others are moved through slowly, almost in silence. Knai Bang Chatt belongs to the second kind. In Kep, far from the noise of Phnom Penh, the monsoon repaints the coastline every year in deep, unhurried colors — the dark green of the palm groves, the wet gold of late afternoons, the near-black blue of storms passing offshore. For one season only, Knai Bang Chatt opens its heritage villas to Cambodian residents and expats for something increasingly rar

À Kep, deux passionnés posent les jalons d’une communauté de kitesurf autour du Sailing – Discovery Center de Kep West. Frédéric Seynaeve et Gérard Vann nous racontent leur aventure.

You must see it at least once. Not in a photo, not on a screen — for real, standing there facing the gulf, with the monsoon wind pushing clouds across the sky like it has somewhere to be. Kep in green season is not the Kep of postcards. It's better than that.

Actress, producer, activist — meeting with an essential voice of Cambodian cinema: Sarita Reth. A familiar face on Khmer screens, she today embodies a new generation of professionals who no longer content themselves with playing the game, but intend to rewrite the rules. In front of the camera as much as behind it, on stage as much as in industry forums, Sarita carries a rare demand: that of a Cambodian cinema finally structured, fair, and recognized at its true value on the

Scénariste, réalisatrice, proScreenwriter, director, producer — this Cambodian filmmaker has been weaving a singular body of work for nearly twenty years, between metaphorical silences and hard-won freedoms. Portrait of a voice that matters.

Nearly a hundred guests gathered at Knai Bang Chatt to celebrate the launch of the CIFF 360 film festival, with a screening of the emblematic La Joie de Vivre by King Norodom Sihanouk, which set the perfect tone for the evening.

Cédric Eloy, director of the Cambodia International Film Festival, has made it his mission to take cinema beyond Phnom Penh's air-conditioned screening rooms and bring it to places where stories hit differently. We met him in Kep, by the sea, for the second edition of CIFF 360.

Thursday afternoon, around fifty spectators gathered at Kep West, in the premises of the former Sailin Club, as part of CIFF 360 for a rare and precious screening: The Time to Cry (Pel Del Trov Zum), directed by Uong Kan Thouk, one of the pioneering figures of Cambodian cinema in the 1970s.

There are encounters that change everything. In 2003, a Belgian entrepreneur named Jef Moons found himself riding through the jungles of Kep, a forgotten little port on Cambodia's southern coast. At a bend in a dirt path, three modernist villas emerge from the vegetation — silent remnants of Khmer golden age, abandoned since the dark years of Cambodian history.

Get ready to embark on a sensory journey where love and gastronomy intertwine under Kep's starry skies! This year, for Valentine's Day, Kep West elevates the art of romance to an unparalleled level with a 6-course dining experience that promises to make your hearts sparkle and delight your taste buds.

It had been a while since I had wanted to return to Kep, Cambodia—and more precisely to Knai Bang Chatt, that uniquely charming hotel I fell in love with during my first stay a few years ago.

The K.E.P Lighthouse project—presented last Friday to the press in the premises of Raffles Hotel Le Royal—stands as an ambitious and masterful ode to the future of Cambodia's coastline. More than just a real estate development, the project embodies a contemporary vision that blends exceptional design, sustainability, art, gastronomy, and community.​

For our last activity with the Kep West team, we travelled to Koh Ach Seh, an island located just a few dozen minutes by boat from Kep. It is here that Marine Conservation Cambodia has set up one of its bases.