Hah its hilarious isnt it. A trip to Kep is an adventure here still. Its the last bit I hate, seen so many accidents on the last 10 km

I do it every week but usually try to avoid peak times as traffic is crazy on road 3 with the construction works. If I leave later evening (I go around 7pm on Friday) I can make it in 2h 30m via road 3 and 31 (independence monument to near Kep beach).

Last Sunday returning to PP (left Kep 7pm) road 3 was busy so I turned off at the Takeo turning and went across towards Takeo then up Road 2. that also took me 2h 30m to get back to PP

The main part of road 2 is pretty much as I have always known it - rather narrow and bumpy but with proper cover and no major potholes all the way. it can get a bit slow when there is a lot of traffic as there are then very few opportunities to overtake slower traffic. The stretch of road from the roundabout on road 2 across to road 3 is even bumpier but is again properly covered and no major potholes and is relatively short.


Road 3 down to the Takeo turnoff is full of roadworks with a few places that have major road damage and no surface cover. The road is very narrow and it becomes difficult to overtake if busy (that is why I go in evenings). They seem to be making rapid progress with the expansion works but have not started laying the top surface anywhere yet (that I saw)


On road 3 from the Takeo turnoff to the kep (road 31) turnoff it is also dug up on both sides, narrow and difficult to overtake, but this is relatively short.

Road 31 is fine all the way to Kep now. the couple of bad sections in the last 20km have now been fixed and you can drive ok on them but they have not yet had the final surface applied (but they are smooth and not pot holed any more).

I did road 3 to Kampot a few weeks ago and that was awful and would be much slower than road 31.

I do it in a 4x4 pick up so my experience of bad road conditions may be different to others....

From Kep to PP I took road 31 to road 3 last week, left around 9am. Arrived at Naga around 1. Had a short 10min break for coffee at the first PTT station. I'm not a slow driver but was a very stressful, long drive with not may opportunities to overtake cause of the roadworks.
To come back I took road 2 and switched to road 31 at Angkor Chey. Left at the same time but took me a hour less, didn't stop for coffee. Still half an hour more than usual but the roads were quiet, good and easy to overtake so way less stressful.

Did both ( 3 to go and 2 to come back to Kep) again this week. Nr3 is definitely one to avoid now but was stubborn and thought if I leave an hour earlier the traffic would be better. It wasn't. Nr 2 is a bit annoying at the start (narrow indeed and passing a lot of villages where you have to slow down) but at one point it completely clears up and it's a pleasant drive to Kep. An hour difference almost.