Not every island on this coast went the rustic route. Koh Russey, long known to backpackers as Bamboo Island, has been quietly reinvented as one of the most polished escapes in Cambodian waters, proof that the islands can do refined as well as raw.
From bamboo huts to beach club
For years Koh Russey was a simple place, a few bamboo bungalows and a generator that cut out at night. Then a resort took over much of the island and rebuilt it with a lighter, more expensive touch, timber villas, a spa, a beach club and a short boat shuttle from the mainland near Ream. The bones of the old island remain, a compact green dot with lovely sand, but the experience is now a good deal smoother.
The beach
The draw has always been the beach, and it is a beauty, a clean curve of pale sand running into clear, shallow, almost absurdly turquoise water. The swimming is gentle, the snorkelling off the rocks is decent, and the whole island is small enough to stroll around in an afternoon. It is the kind of place built for doing very little in considerable comfort.
Easy luxury
What Koh Russey offers that the wilder islands cannot is ease. You can be on the sand within half an hour of the mainland, with air conditioning, a proper kitchen and a cocktail at hand, and still feel pleasantly cut off. For travellers who want the island fantasy without the camping, it hits a particular sweet spot.
How to be here
Book ahead, take the resort boat from the Ream-side pier, and come for the comfort as much as the coast. Koh Russey is the island for a soft landing, a honeymoon, or anyone who likes their castaway days with good linen.