The Sanctuary Villa Battambang

The food was a bright spot: lunch and dinner were surprisingly good and reasonably priced, and breakfast was included, though nothing was warm. They also left a glass bottle for drinking water and refilled it daily. The roads around town are extremely rough, full of potholes and sometimes crushed tiles, so anyone with a bad back might want to avoid the town. The grounds looked lovely on arrival, with green plants and ponds, and the staff were fairly friendly. One poor guy seemed to get pulled into everything when Western guests needed English help. But the pool filter wasn’t working, and the water looked and smelled murky. Doors had padlocks and big gaps that let insects in; one either jammed shut or wouldn’t stay closed without the lock. The air conditioning worked well, though it smelled a bit. There was a safe and a small fridge, but the fridge wasn’t on when we arrived and defrosted quickly during a power outage. The bed was basically a raised platform with sheets and a mosquito net. The mattress made for a painful, restless night. They were working on the hot water system but didn’t tell us at check-in, and we had no water until 9:30 pm, after asking about it at 7. For the next four days, workers were directly above our bathroom, banging and drilling from 7 am until about noon. There was no power during this work, and the workers could see into the bathroom, including the shower and toilet, because the frosted window didn’t cover the top. It might be okay for one night while passing through, but I wouldn’t recommend staying several nights. We regretted it, especially after having much better experiences at smaller, cheaper places. The stay was good for one night only.