Go beyond the classic Angkor circuit to jungle-wrapped Beng Mealea and the remote pyramid of Koh Ker. The journey ends in Battambang, Cambodia's relaxed second city, surrounded by rice fields, cottage industries and limestone caves.
Hidden Temples & Heartland is a 7 day, 6 night private tour from Siem Reap. It takes in Beng Mealea and the seven-tiered Koh Ker pyramid on a long day north, a full Siem Reap city day, sunrise at Angkor Wat and the small circuit, then two nights in Battambang for the bamboo train, Phnom Sampov and the bat cave at dusk. It suits repeat visitors and anyone who wants temples without the crowds.
Beng Mealea and Koh Ker are 120 km from Siem Reap, and the distance does the filtering. Expect to share the Koh Ker pyramid with a handful of people rather than a coach park.
Cambodia's second city is French-colonial, walkable and slow, with rice paper and rice wine made in the villages around it - the part of the trip most guests say they did not expect to love.
You get the sunrise and the small circuit, so nothing essential is traded away for the remote temples.
A vast temple still largely claimed by the forest, reached through scenic countryside and a local market stop at Dom Deak.
A tenth-century royal capital built in a hurry and abandoned almost as fast. Prasat Thom is the seven-tiered pyramid; Prasat Krahom and Prasat Pram are the ones people remember.
The bamboo train, Wat Ek Phnom, the Governor's Residence museum, rice paper and rice wine makers, and Phnom Sampov, where the bats pour out of the cliff at dusk.
Every timing below is a starting point, not a rule. Tell us your flights and we rebuild the shape of the trip around them.
Arrive and rest - tomorrow is a long one.
Private transfer to your hotel.
Ten to eleven hours, 120 km each way, and worth every one of them.
With a stop at Dom Deak local market.
The temple the jungle never gave back.
Prasat Thom's seven tiers, Prasat Krahom and Prasat Pram.
Returning about 6:00-6:30pm.
A gentler day after yesterday.
Preah Ang Chek Preah Ang Chorm.
Makers, then everything else.
Ends about 3:00-3:30pm.
The classic day, done early.
Then breakfast.
Including the Terrace of the Elephants and the Leper King.
Tour ends about 12:30-1:30pm.
Three hours through rice country.
165-170 km past rice fields, villages and small market towns.
In Battambang's French-colonial old town.
The city and the country around it, ending at the caves.
The norry, on its single track.
An 11th-century temple, then the colonial museum.
Made in the villages, watched at close range - and a traditional Khmer wooden house.
The Killing Caves, then millions of bats leaving the cliff. Ends about 6:00-6:30pm.
Back to Siem Reap for your flight.
About three hours, timed to your flight from SAI.
5 days / 4 nights
The full arc of Cambodia — the capital's difficult history, the countryside between, and sunrise over Angkor Wat.
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 / 1 night
Travel that puts more into a place than it takes out — a day with the people, a day with the temples.
8 days / 7 nights
Khmer civilisation in the order it unfolded: the modern capital, the forest capital that came before Angkor, and Angkor itself.
7 days / 6 nights
Four days of temples, markets and lake life, then slow island days on Koh Rong.
6 days / 5 nights
Rare river dolphins on the Mekong, then three nights on a working farm in the Bunong highlands.
5 days / 4 nights
The essential Cambodia in five days - the royal capital, Angkor at sunrise and life on the great lake.
7 days / 6 nights
Pepper farms, salt fields, Kep crab and the misty Bokor plateau, ending on Koh Rong.
12 days / 11 nights
The complete Cambodia in one journey - capital, homestay, Angkor, Koh Ker, Battambang and the islands.
Send your dates and group size. We come back with a costed version of this trip, reshaped around you.
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