The city is divided into 5 sections: 1) The north is an attractive modernized area, 2) the south is French part of the city with its governmental ministries, banks, and colonial-styled houses, 3) the center is the central heart with its narrow lanes, markets, shops, and restaurants, 4) the east is the area covering many modern and medium-sized restaurants across the Chruy Changvar bridge, and 5) the west is the developing area where many middle-class and poor people are living and making their daily living by working in factories and on farms. Generally, the city offers several cultural and historical attractions including 1) the Royal Palace, 2) Emerald Pagoda, 3) National Archeological Museum, 4) Wat Phnom Pagoda, 5) Genocidal Pol Pot Museum, 6) Unnaloam Pagoda, 7) Central Market, 7) Russian Market, 8) Parkway Recreation Center, 9) Independence Monument, and 10) Promenade along the riverside. There are also a variety of services including five-star hotels and budget guesthouses, fine international dining, sidewalk noodle shops, neighboring pubs, international discos and more, Phnom Penh, like other Cambodian tourist destinations, is in the midst of rapid change. Over the past few years business especially the number of restaurants, hotels and many other services has grown considerably and in the last year there has been a significant increase and boom in the number of visitors. In the past 23 years, the city has undergone many enormous changes with a lot of modern Thai-styled constructions. Despite the economic boom, Phnom Penh has managed to decorate its charm and character: large houses, cultural centers, recreation centers, broad boulevards, protection of old-colonial buildings, nice parks and green trees, fantastic carving pagodas, full of old famous legends and above all its people here always have a smile for all tourists. There are now direct daily flights from several Asian cities to Phnom Penh, and at least three overland border crossings next to Vietnam, Laos and Thailand have opened since 1998. From day to day, Phnom Penh becomes the gateway to the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Once considered the loveliest of the French-built cities of the Indochinese peninsular. That is why most Phnom Penh's attraction are significant, i.e. many travelers spend here more time about 3-5 days. Now they could see a lot of decorations for its fascinating city changed by the new famous powerful Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara. The area size of Phnom Penh city is about 165 km2 with the population of about 1 million and the population growth rate remains around 3 percent annually. Its map looks like an open romantic heart. Many business services have sprung up all over the town; crowds gather on the recently developed riverfront area at fresh air; nightlife gets pretty lively at weekends; and, as the pagodas or wats come back to life, monks in saffron robes can be seen here and there wandering around town carrying alms bowls. Phnom Penh residents are warm, peaceful, romantic and hard-working, making their living by working in factories, companies, governmental ministries and doing small and medium sized business. English language becomes international use in here. That is the real face of Phnom Penh, the most wonderful city in the Kingdom of Cambodia nowadays.

Phnom Penh also has its very old legend. The legend has it that Phnom Penh was founded when an old woman named PENH (means Full) found 4 Buddha images in the trunk of a log that had come to rest on the banks of the Mekong river in the terrible flood dropping from Laos. She houses them on a nearby hill (now becomes Wat Phnom Pagoda), and the town that emerged around the hill came to be known as Phnom Penh, the hill of Madame PENH. The story, however, gives no clue as to why, in 1440s, Angkor city in Siem Reap was abandoned because of the repeated fighting of the Siamese (Thais) to occupy and capture Khmer land and Phnom Penh chosen as the site of the new Cambodian capital city. The move has been much lamented as evidence of cultural decline, but it nevertheless made a good deal of practical sense. Angkor was poorly situated for trade and subject to constant attacks from the Siamese, the Kingdom of Ayuthaya. Phnom Penh commanded a more central position in the Khmer territories and was perfectly located for riverine trade with Laos and China via the Mekong delta. The Tonle Sap river provided access to the rich fishing grounds of the Tonle Sap or called the Great Lake.

After that by the mid-16th century trade has turned Phnom Penh into a regional power. Indonesian and Chinese traders were drawn to the city in large numbers. A century later, however, the Youn (Vietnamese) incursions into Khmer territory had robbed the city of access to sea lanes, and Chinese merchants driven south by the Manchu dynasty began to monopolize trade here. The landlocked and increasingly isolated kingdom became a buffer between ascendant Thais and Vietnamese. In 1772, the Thais burnt Phnom Penh down to the ground. Although the city was rebuilt, in the years that followed until the French took over in 1863, Phnom Penh was buffeted by the rival hegemonic interests of the Thai and Vietnamese courts. Its population is thought never to have risen much above 25,000. But in 1970, Phnom Penh had 500,000 population, reaching about 2 million in early 1975. But after the genocidal Pol Pot regime during 1975-1979, many educated Phnom Penh people were killed. Some statistics showed that not over 50,000 people were living in Phnom Penh during Khmer Rouge regime. Now according to the latest population survey, Phnom Penh has about 1 million people.