A quick guide to taking a tuk-tuk in Cambodia – Here’s what you should know!
When travelling around Cambodia, you will quickly realise that tuk-tuk’s are everywhere. When it comes to getting places within and around a city in Cambodia, taking a tuk-tuk becomes unavoidable sooner rather than later.
In this guide, we want to go over some of the things you may want to know when it comes to taking a tuk-tuk in Cambodia. Especially, if this is your first trip to Cambodia or Southeast Asia in general.
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What you should know before hiring a tuk-tuk in Cambodia – A quick guide
Taking a tuk-tuk in Cambodia is actually not a complicated feat at all, which is why this post is going to be rather short😉. However, navigating the country can be a little overwhelming at first, especially for those of you that have not been to Southeast Asia before.
In this guide, we will address the most frequently asked questions surrounding tuk-tuk’s in Cambodia. Where can you find and hire one? What should you watch out for? Can you communicate in English? Do you pay in cash or by card? And, so on.
The DO’s and DON’T’s of taking a tuk-tuk in Cambodia
Let’s start by going over a few things that you absolutely should or should not do when taking a tuk-tuk in Cambodia.
- DO always negotiate a price in advance! Before getting into a tuk-tuk, make sure that you always are in agreement with the driver on what you will be paying him for the ride. That way you can avoid rather awkward situations and discussions at the end.
- DON’T leave your belongings out of reach. Personally, we did not encounter this. However we were warned that occasionally people on motorbikes will come up to the tuk-tuk and try to snatch your bag or smartphone en route. So make sure to always have your valuables close to you.
Frequently asked questions surrounding tuk-tuk’s in Cambodia
In this section of the guide we will answer a few of the most frequently asked questions surrounding tuk-tuk’s in Cambodia.
📍 Are tuk-tuk’s safe?
Tuk-tuk’s are a very common mode of transportation in Cambodia and while you are more exposed than you would be within a car, we actually never felt unsafe. Of the many drivers we had during our trip through Cambodia, there wasn’t one we wouldn’t ride with again. This of course does not mean that there are no bad drivers out there😉.
Further down below, we will tell you exactly how we found our tuk-tuk drivers throughout our trip. If you apply the same precautions, we are quite confident that you will be fine too.
The only thing you should always watch out for is petty theft. This is something that is not in the hands of your driver either. Always keep your belongings close to you and only bring the necessities when going on a tour.
🗣️ Can you communicate with tuk-tuk drivers in English?
From our personal experience, most tuk-tuk drivers seem to be able to at least communicate the basics in English. Especially the drivers that take tourists on tours will speak very decent English. In general we never had an encounter where we were not able to communicate at all.
Note: We visited Siem Reap, Battambang, Phnom Penh and Kampot on our Cambodia trip, which are all known relatively well as tourist destinations within the country. Therefore, we cannot speak for destinations that are a little more off-the-beaten-path.
💳 Do you pay cash or by card?
- Typically you will pay your tuk-tuk driver in cash in USD.
- Except if you book your ride via some kind of platform, e.g. Grab for single rides or Viator for a tour.
💸 How much does it cost to take a tuk-tuk?
- Shorter single rides will often only cost about 1-3$.
- Prices for tours will depend. We roughly paid about 15$-25$ for tours.
Note: The prices were always for the both of us, never per person.
🪙 Is it common to tip a tuk-tuk driver in Cambodia?
First of all, it is not common to tip in Cambodia, which is why we never tipped the driver when only taking a tuk-tuk for a single ride to get from A to B.
However, when hiring one for a half-day or full-day tour, we always made sure to leave some kind of tip. E.g. in Siem Reap we hired the same driver for three days in a row and he did an amazing job! So it only felt right to give a little extra. And, the tips are always greatly appreciated😉.
Useful Apps you might want to have to get around more easily
In theory, you can also get by without using any apps. However, there are great benefits in having the following two:
- Grab. The Southeast Asian equivalent of Uber. Great for deliveries and organising single rides from A to B.
- WhatsApp. A messaging app that you might be using in your everyday life already. Communication with tuk-tuk drivers that we hired for tours was always via WhatsApp.
Where to find a tuk-tuk driver for a single ride in Cambodia?
If you read the section above, you might already know where we are going with this one. When it comes to organising a simple ride to get you from one location to the next one, the easiest way to do so in by using Grab.
Why?
- Well, first of all, prices are fixed via the app, so you don’t need to haggle with the tuk-tuk driver on the street.
- You have the option to pay via the app.
- Booking a tuk-tuk driver via Grab creates a bit more of a controlled environment for those of you that are not as comfortable with going with just any driver on the street.
Note: From personal experience, Grab did not work in Battambang. The two locations where you can be sure 100% that Grab works are Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. In Kampot it did too for us, however when checking the app as I am writing this article Kampot seems to not be an option. So you will have to see as you go, especially in rural areas.
If Grab does not work, you will have to go with the traditional method of hailing a tuk-tuk. It should not be hard to find one though. You will quickly learn that it is nearly impossible to walk around as a tourist in Cambodia without getting asked at least once whether you need a ride😆. Just make sure to always agree with the driver on a rate before getting into the tuk-tuk!
Where to find and hire a tuk-tuk driver for a tour in Cambodia?
If you are planning to hit a few sightseeing spots one after the other, it might be worthwhile to look into hiring a tuk-tuk driver for a half-day or even a full-day. But, how do you do that?
As we were travelling through Cambodia, we ultimately learned that there are four ways to find a tuk-tuk driver for a tour.
- Typically, when getting off a bus in a new location there will be numerous tuk-tuk drivers trying to take you to your accommodation. Often times they will offer to do this for free if it isn’t too far. Once you go with them, they will pitch you a number of tours and if you like them you can take up their offer. This is what we did in Kampot. Note: We did hire the driver that took us from the bus towards our accommodation via Grab, after having been thoroughly overwhelmed by tuk-tuk drivers when stepping off the bus in Battambang😆.
- You can also simply ask at the reception of your hotel/hostel and hire the tuk-tuk driver that they recommend or usually work with, which we ended up doing in Battambang.
- Alternatively, some tuk-tuk drivers have Facebook profiles where they promote their services. Usually you will find several pictures with previous clients and reviews. If you find someone you would like to book for a tour, simply contact them via Facebook. This is how we found the driver that took us around Siem Reap for three days! I think he still remains our favourite one among all the drivers we had.
- Book a tuk-tuk tour via Viator*. When looking through the Viator platform, you will see that there are tuk-tuk tours you can book in each locality. We did not try this, however it is an easy way to make sure you have a driver even before you go on your trip.
Do you need to hire a driver in advance?
This one is difficult to answer for us, because from our personal experience you do not. We always looked into hiring a tuk-tuk driver for a specific location only after arriving in said location. And it always worked out fine.
However, you should know that we travelled Cambodia in September, which is very much off-season. Therefore we would recommend to maybe look into your options beforehand if you are travelling during peak-season. Especially so if you intend to book a tuk-tuk tour via Viator* or wish to hire a specific driver that you found on Facebook.
Final Thoughts on tuk-tuk’s in Cambodia
Tuk-tuk’s are essential modes of transportation in Cambodia. And, when travelling the country it is nearly impossible to avoid taking one. However, that is very much okay, because truthfully, they are pretty fun ways of getting around.
We hope that this quick guide was able to answer all the questions you might have had on taking tuk-tuk’s in Cambodia, while preparing for your upcoming trip! Feel free to ask further questions in the comments if you have any. And as always: Happy Travels!
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