"Like many of the world’s greatest private island retreats, southern Cambodia’s Song Saa has all the trimmings of a tropical fantasy: there are stilted wooden pathways snaking to overwater villas, and private-pooled hideaways burrowed in the thick jungle cloaking the island’s hilly spine. At breakfast, shoals of silvery fish shimmer like fine jewels in the glassy swell below my feet. And when the sun beams overhead, skinny palms leave shadowy patterns on the talcum-white sand hemming the snug, lounger-dotted bay. There’s only so much pool-lolling and beach-lazing I can handle, which can make castaway islands sometimes feel like a gilded cage. But Song Saa is different. A short boat-hop to nearby Koh Rong, the largest island in the eponymous archipelago, drops guests right into coastal Cambodian life for a fix of bustling fishing hamlets, coconut farms draped over low-slung hills and Buddhist temples with kaleidoscopic interiors. The Song Saa Foundation, which established the country’s first protected marine reserve in the coral-rich waters surrounding the island, is missioned to keep it that way: community outreach projects and a dedication to maintaining the environmental footprint at a minimum earned the island a B Corp certification in 2023. Cambodia’s coastal regions might be plagued by overdevelopment, but Song Saa’s blueprint for mindful hospitality delivers a glimmer of hope. From $1,022. —Chris Schalkx" - CNT Editors
