Direct daily flights between Hong Kong and Phnom Penh are back. Carolynne Dear took advantage of the boosted schedule with a decadent weekend at the Cambodian capital’s ‘grande dame’
Raffles Le Royal Phnom Penh was a pleaseure to review
Southeast Asia is littered with glamorous grande dame hotels. Most are a century or more in age and all are reassuring bastions of an age when travel was both glamorous and sedate.
This year Raffles Le Royal Phnom Penh, a true grande dame if ever there was one, celebrates its 95th birthday. And with Cathay’s new daily service to the Cambodian capital, it was a perfect opportunity to experience some Cambodian hospitality.
The hotel, originally launched as Le Royal in the early 20th century, was constructed by French architect Ernest Herbrard. It had just 55 rooms and after a show-stopping opening in 1929 (think lavish ball attended by the King) it quickly became a de rigeur stopping off point for European travellers on Indonchina ‘grand tours’ on their way to the then-little known temples of Angkor. They travelled by bus or by chauffeur-driven car from Saigon, or by ship from Bangkok and Singapore. Famous guests included Charlie Chaplin and Somerset Maugham, who today have ‘personality suites’ named after them. In the evenings, this well-heeled crowd made a beeline for the hotel’s infamous Elephant Bar, its wicker chairs, gently rotating fans and arched colonnades a model of late colonial era charm. And reassuringly, the bar’s decor has not much changed to this day.
The hotel’s golden era, however, arrived in the 1950s and ‘60s when Cambodia’s booming economy transformed the city into a mecca for tourists. Upgrades at Le Royal included additional rooms on the upper floors of the main building, 30 new bungalows and six new studio apartments. A swimming pool and terrace were built and air conditioning and baths were added to guest rooms. In 1967, Jacqueline Kennedy visited, inspiring the Elephant Bar’s ‘Femme Fatale’ cocktail which is still served.
Enjoy a drink at Phnom Penh's swankiest bar
But dark days were on the horizon and tourists fled the city in 1970 when the military staged its coup and civil war broke out. The hotel initially filled with war correspondents but eventually it was stormed by the Khmer Rouge. After the atrocities and as the country recovered in the 1980s, the hotel closed.
In the 1990s it was taken over by the Raffles Group and the Raffles architects have done an impressive job of restoring the building to its former glory.
Unfortunately my own arrival into Phnom Penh last month wasn’t nearly as elegant as a chauffeur-driven car across 1920s Indonchina. After a chaotic welcome of lengthy visa confirmation queues at the airport and bumper-to-bumper traffic across town, it was something of a relief to sweep up the gravel driveway to the hotel’s white-washed, colonnaded entrance. Inside the elegant lobby I was warmly greeted with a much-appreciated welcome drink by friendly, immaculately uniformed staff and led up an old and satisfyingly creaky main staircase to my room.
I am greeted by a huge snowy white bed, polished hardwood floors, French windows that open onto a small balcony and a stunning bathroom with a decadent clawfoot bath tub as well as a more modern rainshower. Heritage touches include historical prints on the walls, antique homewares and old-fashioned, early 20th century telephones on the desk and night-stand. A fan duly rotates overhead but thankfully the air conditioning is also cranked up, a relief from the humidity outside. In short, the elegant 1920s aesthetic of the 175 rooms and suites are backed up by all mod cons.
As with all grandes dames, Le Royal has its stories. On a tour with the hotel’s longstanding concierge I learn that before telephones were installed, guests would fling handwritten in-room dining orders over the central atrium to the lobby below. And the wonderful creak of the staircase was a useful indication to staff of the location of guests wandering about the building.
A pool was added to the hotel in the 1960s
I wake the next morning to sunlight streaming through the wooden shutters. My balcony view is of a frangipani-fringed pool sparkling under a cerulean sky. Down the staircase and along wide, high-ceilinged corridors, the sun from the huge French windows pouring over tiled floors and potted ferns, I reach Le Phnom 1929, the hotel’s French bistro, which presents a generous buffet breakfast of eastern and western dishes along with ice buckets of champagne (should the mood take you) and plenty of fresh juices. I sit outside on the colonnaded verandah overlooking the hotel lawns, contemplating my coffee and the day ahead.
Facilities at Raffles Le Royal run to two pools; one is a shallow 90cm wading pool for children to enjoy and adjacent to it is a larger, deeper swimming pool. Loungers and lunch tables under shady trees surround the pools, creating a decadent atmosphere of long lunching leisure. Thoughtful touches include complimentary water bottles on loungers as well as small wooden trays of insect repellent and sun screen.
Further amenities include a spa and a gym and the concierge team offer various tours of the city.
As the sun sinks in the evening, the Elephant Bar beckons. This stunning, colonial-style space is decorated with historical photographs recording the hotel’s storied past and stunning elephant murals on the ceilings. It also offers the widest selection of gins in the city which are presented on an antique table along with multiple mixers and dried spices and fruits. As a Raffles property, there’s a riff off the group’s famous Singapore Sling and the award-winning barman is kept busy mixing multiple fruity Phnom Penh Slings. My recommendation, however, would be the Jacqueline Kennedy-inspired Femme Fatale.
For dinner I am hosted in the hotel’s impressive Le Royal restaurant. The menu is a combination of traditional and modern Khmer dishes presented by French-raised executive chef Martin Becquart. Highlights include river lobster terrine, slow-cooked goose and braised Australian beef in red curry. A fitting end to the evening involves one more Femme Fatale in the Elephant Bar. And then it's back up the creaky stairs to my glorious four poster bed.
Raffles Le Royal, at just a two-hour flight from Hong Kong, is the perfect destination for a relaxing weekend.
For families
Children are welcomed at the hotel with child-friendly menus, some interconnecting rooms and babysitting services. One of the two pools is designated as a family pool.
Asia Family Traveller was a guest of Raffles Le Royal Phnom Penh, flying with Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh.
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