10-Day Itinerary in Cambodia: The Route We Recommend to Our Own Friends

Siem Reap International Airport (SAI) moved in 2023 to 50 kilometers southeast of the city. There are no longer taxis lined up at baggage claim, which is the first surprise. Expect a 45-minute journey and 30 to 35 USD to reach downtown by official taxi.

Our advice: book the transfer before departure. After a 12-hour flight, you don’t want to negotiate a fare in riels at 11 PM. Welcome Pickups sends an English-speaking driver, with fresh water and a cool towel in the car — it’s the kind of detail that changes the entry experience.

For the first night, we prefer the area between the river and Pub Street — that’s where everything is within walking distance. Our favorites: Jaya House Riverpark (150 € per night, quiet boutique hotel by the water), Shinta Mani Shack (Bill Bensley design, excellent value), or, more modestly, Onederz Siem Reap (design hostel for under 20 € per night).

In the evening, a light dinner. Malis offers the best contemporary Khmer cuisine in the city if you still have the energy to go out. Otherwise, a simple amok with fish or a lok lak with beef on any terrace of Pub Street will do. We recommend going to bed early: tomorrow, wake-up at 4:30 AM.

The small circuit is the short loop of Angkor, about twenty kilometers connecting the major monuments. It’s the visit for the first day. Start with the sunrise in front of Angkor Wat — yes, it’s the postcard image, but the pink light resting on the five towers is a moment to be experienced in silence.

A French-speaking guide with a private tuk-tuk for the day costs around 40 to 50 €. It’s worth the investment for the first day: without a guide, you see stones; with a guide, you read a civilization. From the second day, you can settle for just a tuk-tuk if you’ve done some research.

After sunrise, breakfast on-site then the classic loop: Angkor Thom through the south gate (notice the faces of gods and demons pulling the sacred serpent), the Bayon with its fifty-four face towers, the Baphuon, the Terrace of the Elephants. Lunch stop at one of the restaurants north of Angkor Thom — avoid those too close to the temples, prices double there.

In the afternoon, head to Ta Prohm. This is the temple of roots, the one that Angelina Jolie made famous in Tomb Raider. The silk cotton trees have embraced the stones for eight centuries. Go between 2 PM and 3:30 PM: the light filtering through the foliage is remarkable, and the Japanese tourist buses from the morning have left.

Return to the hotel around 5 PM, pool, Khmer massage for 8 USD in any salon on Pub Street, quiet dinner. You’ll be exhausted, which is normal.

The grand circuit of Angkor is 26 km and covers the more distant but often quieter temples: Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon, and Pre Rup. Depart later (7 AM, not 4:30 AM), slower pace, fewer crowds. It’s the day we prefer and the one we often remember the best.

Return to Siem Reap in the late afternoon. Shower, light dinner, then head to Phare, the Cambodian Circus. It’s one of the most beautiful evenings you can spend in Cambodia: a contemporary circus from an NGO that trains underprivileged youth for free. 1 hour and 15 minutes show, impressive technique, modern scenography, story told of today’s Cambodia. It has nothing to do with the folkloric shows found elsewhere. Reservation is essential, it fills up quickly.

Last day in Siem Reap, and the most varied. In the morning, head to Banteay Srei, "the citadel of women", 35 km to the north. It’s the smallest major temple in the Angkor site and, without hesitation, the most beautiful. Pink sandstone, sculptures of unparalleled finesse, human scale. You spend an hour there, and that’s enough.

On the way back, optional stop at Kbal Spean, the river of a thousand lingas — sculptures in the riverbed itself, in the heart of the forest. Expect a 45-minute walk from the parking area.

In the afternoon, a complete change of scenery: Kampong Phluk, on Tonlé Sap lake. It’s the most authentic floating village in the area, one hour by road and 20 minutes by boat. Stilt houses 6 meters high in the dry season, submerged halfway in the monsoon. We glide between the wooden houses, children wave, and at the tip, we cross the flooded forest in a small rowboat.

In the evening, prepare for departure to Phnom Penh. Two options to reach the capital: Giant Ibis day bus (6 hours, 15 USD, European comfort, wifi on board), departing at 7:45 AM or 12:15 PM, or domestic flight (45 minutes, 95 to 130 USD, Cambodia Angkor Air). Unless pressed for time, we recommend the bus: the landscape between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh is interesting, you better understand the scale of the country. Book on 12Go, the only platform that aggregates local transport.

The morning bus arrives around 2 PM in Phnom Penh, allowing you to enjoy the afternoon. So we leave the next morning.

Morning bus from Siem Reap, arrival in Phnom Penh around 2 PM. Drop off your luggage at the hotel — we recommend the Royal Palace area or BKK1 for a first time. Then it’s time for the most difficult part of the itinerary: visiting the S-21 prison (Tuol Sleng) and the Choeung Ek memorial, the "Killing Fields".

It’s hard, to be honest. But you cannot claim to understand contemporary Cambodia without going through there. Tuol Sleng, a former high school turned prison and torture center by the Khmer Rouge, is now a museum. The French audio guide is remarkable, moving, and precise. Choeung Ek, 17 km south of the city, is the site where victims were taken and then executed — the memorial is a stupa containing over 8,000 skulls.

At the end of the afternoon, we return to the hotel, change, and move on to something radically different: the sunset cruise on the Kanika boat. It’s one of the tours our team has operated directly since 2010. We board at Sisowath quay at 5 PM, navigate on the Tonlé Sap and then the Mekong, watching Phnom Penh light up from the water, a cocktail in hand on the upper deck. Duration 1 hour and 20 minutes — exactly the breath of fresh air needed after a difficult day. For those who want to extend the evening, we continue directly with dinner on board: same boat, same seats on the deck, the river at 360°.

For those who won’t have dinner on board, the BKK1 area takes over — street 308 or street 240 align the best addresses in the city, from Khmer bistro to contemporary French cuisine.

Second day in Phnom Penh, radically lighter than the previous day. In the morning: the Phnom Penh Heritage Tour by electric bus. It’s a circuit our team set up in 2019 to read the city differently. Nineteen stops, twenty-two sites, multilingual audio-video commentary (French, English, Khmer, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese), from the original fishing village to the Art Deco villas of the 30s, passing by the Royal Palace, the central market, and places not usually seen: old colonial banks, first cinemas, the memory of the Khmer Rouge also in the discreet background.

Quick lunch at the central market or the Russian market — in our opinion, the Russian one is more authentic, less touristy, that’s where we go ourselves. Try the num banh chok, rice noodles with green curry that we have for breakfast or lunch depending on the craving.

In the afternoon, visit the Royal Palace and the adjoining Silver Pagoda (entrance 10 USD, decent attire required — pants and shoulders covered). Floors tiled with solid silver, Emerald Buddha, royal throne: expect to spend 1 hour and 30 minutes on-site. Just a stone's throw away, the National Museum houses the finest collection of pre-Angkorian and Angkorian Khmer art in the world (10 USD, 1 hour is enough).

Dinner in the BKK1 area, street 308 or street 240 — from Khmer bistro to contemporary French cuisine. We return early: tomorrow, we head to Kampot.

Early departure for Kampot. Bus or minivan in 3 hours and 30 minutes, about 9 USD. Private transfers cost around 70 USD for the car, more comfortable for three or four people. Arrival in the early afternoon.

Drop off your luggage at a guesthouse by the river: Rikitikitavi (nice terrace, refined cuisine), Ganesha Eco-lodge (bungalows in nature 10 minutes from the center) or Old Cinema if you prefer the city center. Kampot has a different rhythm — pepper, river, Bokor National Park looming above.

Early afternoon, head to La Plantation, a French estate 30 minutes from the center, open to the public, free guided tour at 1 PM and 3 PM. Learn all about the three colors of Kampot IGP pepper (green, black, red), taste, and buy in reasonable quantities to take home (the red pepper is the rarest, 15 € for 50 g). The cultivation of pepper here is still done in agroforestry, on vines, without chemical inputs.

In the late afternoon, sunset cruise on the Praek Tuek Chhu river. Small wooden boat, three hours, we pass under the monkeys sleeping in the trees, see the stilt houses, and end with the fireflies swimming at nightfall — depending on the season, the banks illuminate. Expect 10 to 15 USD per person.

Dinner by the water at Greenhouse or Tertulia. Go to bed early — tomorrow, departure for the islands.

In the morning, a 30-minute drive to Kep, the old-fashioned seaside resort from the 60s that is slowly being renovated. We go directly to the crab market. It’s there, on the waterfront, that we eat blue crab with Kampot green pepper — literally caught in front of you in the cages submerged under the walkway. 12 USD per dish, sublime.

Short walk in Kep National Park (entrance 1 USD, 8 km loop) if the weather allows, then transit to the port of Sihanoukville (2 hours by minivan, about 12 USD). We don’t linger in Sihanoukville: the city has changed a lot with the arrival of Chinese casinos, it’s not a destination we recommend for sleeping. We head straight to Serendipity port to board the fast ferry at 1 PM or 4 PM to Koh Rong Sanloem.

After a 45-minute crossing, the scenery changes completely. Koh Rong Sanloem is the smaller of the two major islands in the gulf, the most preserved, where you come to relax rather than party — the opposite of Koh Rong the big one. We land at Saracen Bay, the large bay: 2 km of sand so fine it squeaks underfoot.

We stay on the beach, in bungalows with our feet in the water. Our favorites: Sol Beach Resort (mid-range, the cuisine is remarkable), The One Resort (higher-end, infinity pool on the sand), Saracen Bay Resort (good value), or M'Pai Bay Village (hostel in the north, backpacker vibe, bungalows starting at 15 USD).

Dinner by the water, barefoot in the sand. Night falls early in the tropics — we enjoy the silence.

A full vacation day. We do nothing, that’s the idea. Breakfast by the sea, swimming, napping in a hammock, reading. The more active will go on a island tour by boat (20-25 USD for the day, masks and snorkels provided) to discover the inaccessible coves on foot and dive on small reefs.

Another option: coastal walk to Lazy Beach, on the west coast. 40 minutes through the inner jungle, and you emerge on a nearly isolated cove with almost golden sand. Fishermen serve the morning's catch around noon, and it’s one of the most beautiful sunsets in the country. Return by the same path before nightfall, or by boat-taxi from the small pier.

In the evening, a boat outing to see the bioluminescent plankton. Departure around 8 PM after nightfall, 30 minutes of navigation to a sheltered cove, and we swim in complete darkness — the water lights up with the slightest movement. It’s the experience everyone remembers after returning.

Sleep in, breakfast by the sea, last swim. Depending on your international flight schedule, fast ferry to Sihanoukville at 9 AM, 10:30 AM, or 1 PM (45 minutes, 25 USD round trip), then transfer to Phnom Penh: 3 hours by minivan (about 12 USD) or domestic flight Sihanoukville → Phnom Penh (35 minutes, 80 USD).

Allow at least 6 hours of total margin between the island and your international flight. Ferries can be canceled in monsoon, the road can get congested before national holidays. Better to spend one last night in Phnom Penh than to miss your flight.