Travel Guide Le Bokor

A wild and grandiose place, Bokor was one of the most renowned high altitude resorts in Indochina. It was first explored in 1917 by a certain Mr. Rolous, and the French administration decided almost immediately to transform Bokor into an altitude resort.In 1921, the access road was completed, allowing construction of the resort to begin, which was completed in 1924, but the Bokor Palace Hotel was not finished until 1925. The 1950s and 1960s marked the golden age of the Bokor, frequented by an abundance of French and wealthy Cambodians. The site was finally abandoned in 1972, falling into the hands of the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese. In 1992, the French UNTAC paratroopers occupied the resort. The peacekeepers left, the Khmer Rouge returned briefly, and then it was the turn of the government military to ravage the forest by cutting down everything they could during the 1990s. For more than twenty years, Bokor Palace was a silent witness to the history of its country. For a long time, the few visitors who took the time to visit the Bokor could enter the ruins of the former palace, treading on the dirt-black marble regularly battered by the rains. That all changed in 2012 when an initial renovation was undertaken to clean the facade. In 2017, the Sokha Group began the second phase of work and reopened a splendid palace in late 2018. It is therefore now possible to sleep in this witness of the 20th century, even if the decoration is not of the best taste. The area around the station is now properly demined, travelers can go digging in the vegetation to find vegetables and other fruits returned to the wild (peas, beans, strawberries ...) imported during the protectorate by French agronomists who had transformed part of Bokor into a center of experimental market gardening called then "the Emerald Valley. Be careful not to go too far off the beaten track, the terrain is difficult, and the risk of getting lost is high. And you never know if 100% of the mines have been defused. In the wake of Bokor Palace, another giant hotel has been opened, mainly for Asian clients. As a result, many of the treks previously possible are now inaccessible. The post office has been destroyed, but the casino has been preserved. In the evening, the Bokor can look like Las Vegas...