Phnom Penh is a difficult city. We never seem to understand in which part you should stay, so we basically enter our basic criteria of balcony, pool, safety box and fridge when looking for a hotel. We need to lose the balcony to make the budget. And so we find V Hotel Phnom Pehn.
The hotel is quite modern with a concrete style, but it is horribly dark. We get to sign a document stating that we will not smoke in the hotel room or there will be a heavy fine. When we enter our room, it simply reeks of cigarette smoke! How strange is that… We get upgraded to a suite instead, no cigarette stench there and the room is much bigger and brighter! So thank you, Mr. Smokey Pants, whoever you are!
The suite comes with a large and comfy bed, a bubble bath, a safety box and a fridge, a boiler, coffee and tea, free water bottles, showering products, slippers and bathrobes. The window is facing the opposite wall, so there is absolutely no view, but we don’t mind.
The 16th floor has a boring restaurant with quite boring food on which they add a 10% service charge to make the bill hilariously high. The breakfast buffet is included and is quite alright.
On the 17th floor there is a rooftop pool which is sunny for about 2 hours in the morning. The water is cold, but it is still a quite nice and relaxing place after a day of excursions in the sun. Five sunbeds is however a bit ungenerous and why not move them to the other side where the sun shines at least a few hours every day?
The area around V Hotel is not very happening. There are a few shops, atms, cafés and local restaurants around, but otherwise you will need to take a tuk tuk to get anywhere and everywhere. Tuk tuks are always available as soon as you leave the hotel. It costs $3 for a ride within the city center.
