Pol Pot's House Travel Guide

Lakes full of dead trees surround the dilapidated house of the former ruler of Cambodia, and they make a fittingly eerie border around what is a somber, confusing tourist attraction.

Pol Pot’s House is located in Anlong Veng, a town near the border with Thailand. It is about three hours by road from Siem Reap so visitors to the temples of Angkor often find their way here on a brief side trip, or on their way to the temples on a journey that has originated in Thailand.

There isn’t really a great deal to see in the house, which is modest and plain and decorated only with a few scraps of furniture. Some glass-covered papers indicated the positions of writing desks and other assorted points of interest while the information about Pol Pot in general, displayed out front of the house, could be found in any guidebook.

Rainy days seem to suit this bleak reminder of one of the world’s darkest chapters, presided over by the tyrant who lived here and ordered the deaths of millions of Cambodians. Its location so near the grand and magnificent treasures of the ancient Khmer world only adds to the impact of what is otherwise an unremarkable structure hidden away in the rural paths of the country.

In brief

What is it? The one time residence of the dictator of Cambodia, Pol Pot.


Opening hours: 08:30 to 17:30, daily.


Entrance fees: no entry fee.

Where: near the town of Anlong Veng, between the Thai border and the temples of Angkor.

How to get there: taxis and motorcycle rickshaws run regularly out of Siem Reap, and the journey takes around 3 hours. The airport at Siem Reap receives flights from Phnom Penh (25 minutes).