Five days that carry you from the memorial sites of Phnom Penh, overland through rural Cambodia, to sunrise over Angkor Wat and a morning on the floating villages of the Tonle Sap.
The Phnom Penh & Angkor Discovery is a 5 day, 4 night private Cambodia tour that begins in Phnom Penh and ends in Siem Reap. It covers the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Choeung Ek memorial, an overland crossing through rural Cambodia, a full guided day at Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom and the Bayon, and a boat morning on the Tonle Sap. It suits first-time visitors who want to understand Cambodia, not just photograph it.
Most short Cambodia trips never leave Siem Reap. This one opens in the capital, crosses the rice-growing heartland by road, and finishes at Angkor — so you leave with a sense of the country rather than a single archaeological park.
Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek are difficult places. Your guide is a Khmer national who will give you the context, the space and the quiet these sites deserve, and will never rush you through them.
We enter Angkor Wat from the quieter eastern side at first light, then move through Ta Prohm and the Bayon while the main gate crowds are still arriving at the reflecting pools.
A guided morning through the two sites that explain modern Cambodia: the former school that became Security Prison 21, and the memorial at Choeung Ek. Inscribed by UNESCO as the Cambodian Memorial Sites in 2025.
Six hours of real Cambodia through the window: rice fields, stilted villages and roadside markets. Upgrade to a private car and we stop at Skun market and the 12th-century Kampong Kdei bridge, still carrying traffic 800 years on.
A full guided day: sunrise at Angkor Wat, the strangler figs of Ta Prohm, the quiet ruins of Ta Nei, the South Gate of Angkor Thom and the 200-odd stone faces of the Bayon. Your one-day Angkor pass is included.
Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake, and the floating and stilted communities that live on it. We choose the village by season so you see the lake working rather than performing.
Every timing below is a starting point, not a rule. Tell us your flights and we rebuild the shape of the trip around them.
A soft landing. We meet you at the airport and get you settled — the rest of the day is yours.
Your driver meets you inside the terminal and transfers you to your hotel in air-conditioned comfort.
Rest, swim, or shake off the flight. We can suggest a riverside walk along Sisowath Quay if you have the energy.
Optional — tell us your taste and we will book a table, from a street-food alley to a white-tablecloth Khmer kitchen.
The day that gives the rest of the trip its meaning, taken slowly and with a guide who knows how to hold the room.
The former Security Prison 21, with your guide providing the historical context that the rooms alone cannot.
The memorial site outside the city. Quiet, unhurried, and entirely at your pace.
Optional, and a deliberate change of register — gold, silver-tiled floors and the living monarchy. Add the National Museum or a cyclo ride through the old quarter.
Cambodia between its two cities — the part most itineraries skip past at altitude.
Shared coach as standard, or upgrade to a private car so the day becomes part of the trip rather than a transfer.
Private transfers stop at Skun market — famous, fairly, for its fried spiders — and a local lunch stop.
A 12th-century Khmer corbelled-arch bridge, one of the oldest still standing anywhere. Then on into Siem Reap.
An early start, and the reason you came.
We enter from the quieter eastern side, away from the crush at the western reflecting pools.
Included, and taken just outside the complex before the heat arrives.
The strangler-fig galleries, then Ta Nei — a small forest temple most visitors never reach.
Through the South Gate into the walled city, and on to the Bayon's stone faces.
One last morning on the water before your flight.
Kampong Pluk or Chong Khneas depending on the water level — we pick the one that is genuinely afloat that month.
Direct to Siem Reap International. Book your flight from 4:00 PM onward so the morning is never rushed.
3 days / 3 nights
Two golden hours a day, a long rest in between, and no 4am alarm. Angkor at a human pace.
2 days / 3 nights
Travel that puts more into a place than it takes out — a day with the people, a day with the temples.
Send your dates and group size. We come back with a costed version of this trip, reshaped around you.
Plan Phnom Penh & Angkor