The palace was constructed between 1866 and 1870, after King Norodom relocated the royal capital from Oudong to Phnom Penh. It was built atop an old citadel called Banteay Keo. It faces approximately East and is situated at the Western bank of the cross division of the Tonle Sap River and the Mekong River called Chaktomuk.

The Silver Pagoda is located on the south side of the Royal Palace. The official name is Wat Ubaosoth Ratanaram, also known as Wat Preah Keo Morakot. Temple of the Emerald-Crystal Buddha which is commonly shortened to Wat Preah Keo.

The most notorious of the 189 known interrogation centers in Cambodia was S-21, housed in a former school and now called Tuol Sleng for the hill on which it stands. Between 14,000 and 17,000 prisoners were detained, tortured there, often in primitive brick cells built in former classrooms.

Choeung Ek Genocide Centre – 9 miles away south of Phnom Penh. The infamous killing fields have a bloody history. Once an orchard and a Chinese cemetery, the Khmer Rogue, lead by Pol Pot, turned the place into what became known as the killing fields, where they executed around 20.000 victim. Over three years, they massacred and buried 2.5 million people.