Le Relais de Chhlong — Hotel in Kratie

Chhlong is about ½ hour south of Kratie, which is where most tourists stay. The town of Chhlong, while offering a good look at local rural life along the Mekong, doesn’t have much for travelers seeking notable archeological sites or vibrant night life. We used it as a stopover for two nights on our long trip by car from Phonm Pehn to the north, and it suited us very well. ||||The Relais is a beautifully restored colonial building that was once a Mekong River customs house and residence. Photos on the walls of the public areas document the tremendous work that was done to bring it back from near ruin. The restoration presevered the rich architectural details and updated the infrastructure so that it is a charming, comfortable place to stay. The historic part of the Relais is actualy two adjacent buildings, one of which was probably the customs official’s residence and the other was the actual customs house. I didn’t confirm this with the manager, so it is only a hunch. Both have the same charming colonial style. There are guest rooms in both buildings, and several more in a newer building set in the gardens a short distance away.. The open air restaurant is in a third building. A very nice swimming pool with tables and lounge chairs is between the main buldings and restaurant.||||Our room (#5) was the 2nd floor of the old residence building. It was a suite consisting of a sitting area with a sofa, upholstered easy chair, desk, coffee table, and flat screen tv, The entrnce was from a pleasant veranda with ran the width of the building, which was a pleasant place to sit and relax The view is of the building closer to the river and to the garden off to the side. Rooms in the Customs building would have a view of the gardens, and probably of the river itself through trees and other foliage along the river bank.The sitting area was connected to a hallway that ran parallel to the veranda and contained a large vanity with plenty of counter space. Opposite the vanity was a very large tiled bathroom with a claw foot tub and a large pleasant shower. The hallway led to the separate bedroom, which was adequate sized and had shuttered windows on two sides. The double bed was comfortable and this room had its own ac unit, which was fairly quiet and effective. Storage was adequate, provided by an old armoire. ||||Food in the restaurant was good, though perhaps not good enough to make the restaurant a destination place to eat. Service was friendly but perfunctory. We ate all of our meals there except for one lunch, when we drove to Kratie. ||||All in all we very much enjoyed our quiet stay at Relais de Chhlong and we...

My wife and I stayed 2 nights, arriving 203km from Phnom Penh on a delayed 9AM Virak Buntham Express van($30 for 2) to ACLEDA Bank in Chhlong(next to this hotel entrance) before 2PM. |The manager greeted us at reception and provided details for meals, tours, wifi and our key. We followed the bag laden porter up the beautiful curving stairway to the top floor.|Heritage king suite #3 was spacious, hardwood floored and clean with separate tiled toilet, fully outfitted bathroom with sink, clawfoot tub and tiled shower (quick hot water), bedroom with a comfortable king, desk & chair, then a sitting room opening to a garden view balcony with 2 recliners. Although very relaxing, everyone seems to end up lounging by the lovely clean 18’ x 42’ pool. Good lighting & secure wifi, 6 outlets, central AC with thermostat.|The 7AM breakfast in the riverview restaurant was excellent & complete with fruit plate, eggs/ham/baguette, then a jam crepe with coffee. |We ate our dinners here choosing from their varied menu; fish amok, fried fish with mango salad, spaghetti bolognaise, spaghetti with mushrooms/cream along with smoothies/shakes, all delicious and reasonably priced. |The 10 suite mansion is surrounded by a large garden of flowering bushes under a tall tree canopy with sounds of hens, roosters and chirping birds. It is otherwise quiet, sited well off the main highway that leads to upstream Kratie. |The local market is 300m east along the river and an air conditioned PDR Mart is 400m west along...

GORGEOUS setting! The grounds are immaculate - so many trees and different beautiful plants and flowers. The buildings are very nicely renovated and furnished. A good variety of rooms to choose from. The pool was a decent size and very nicely shaded. Our "low point" was the quality of food - very uneven quality. (e.g. worst Croque Monsieur I have been served in my life! though the Banana Flower Salad was decent). Complimentary breakfast was decent - though they cut corners on quality of ham and cheeses and the coffee was nothing I would order again. Generally food service, though enthusiastically done by very earnest staff, was painfully inefficient. There were too few mixers at the bar too (something easily rectified in Cambodia!) A last comment about food was that it was over-priced, not good value for money. All "complaints" could possible be due to our having visited at a time when there were a limited number of staff due to COVID-related issues. At full staff capacity this might be a brilliant place to spend a weekend. As it was, we really enjoyed the room but not the food/culinary aspect...