Kep is a seaside tourist city located 173 Kilometers south west of Phnom Penh. Visitors from Phnom Penh take National Road 3 via Kampot province or National Road 2 via Takeo province. In addition, the train from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville stops at Damnak Chang Eur Station, about 7 Kilometers from the city. Foreigners coming from Vietnam can enter Cambodia via the Ha Teang Prek Chak border checkpoint, about 40 Kilometers from Kep, or they can travel by boat from Vietnam or Sihanoukville to the Kep City Port.Kep is a small city. The beach, which is suitable for swimming; it only 1,000 meters long, and the sand is not white as in Sihanoukville. However, Kep is a big seafood market.
The city was founded in 1908 during the French colonial times. It was renovated into a beautiful seaside resort in 1960s during then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s Sangkum Reastr Niyum regime. The name Kep is derived from the French words le cap, or cape in English. A cape is a point of land that just into water, especially a headland significant for navigation.
Khmer legend offers another explanation for the name. There once was a prince named Sakor Reach who possessed great magical powers. One day, Sakor Reach used his magic to hypnotize a commander of Angkor Thom before stealing the commander’s horse and escaping to the southwest part of the country. While Sakor Reach was relaxing at the seaside, the commander’s troops caught up with him. Nervous, the prince suddenly hopped on the back of the commander’s horse. The horse reared back, however, and fell on the prince losing its saddle1 in the process. The prince got back on the horse and rode off, leaving the saddle there. Hence, the area was called Kep Seh. Later it was shortened to Kep.