Cambodia, planned by people who work the region
Nine days is enough for a proper first visit. Twelve adds the coast without hurrying. Cambodia is small by Asian standards, roughly the size of Oklahoma, and the trips that work are built around three or four bases rather than a chain of one-night stops.
Plan my Cambodia trip Read the complete guide
- Best time to go
- November to March
- How many days
- 9 to 12
- Entry
- e-visa online, or visa on arrival
- Getting around
- Private car and driver, one short flight on longer routes
Every Cambodia trip we build is run from our own office in Hanoi, which covers Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and written by a named person: our Head of Consulting Mai Est, or our Southeast and Central Asia specialists Osnat Angerman and Paz Prosianoy.
Why plan Cambodia with us
We are in the region. Our Hanoi office is ours, staffed year round, and it runs Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia as one operation. That is what turns a washed-out road in Mondulkiri or a rescheduled Siem Reap flight into something handled rather than escalated.
A named specialist, not a queue. One person owns your file from the first email until you are home.
The first proposal is free and it is not a template. You see the actual hotels, the actual drive times, which temples on which mornings and why, and which stop we removed from your brief.
We will tell you the unwelcome thing. That five days at Angkor is too many for almost everyone. That Sihanoukville is not the beach town it was and we would send you elsewhere. That the genocide sites are hard and need to sit in the right place in your week. Our rating is 4.9 from 93 reviews largely because of that.
A WhatsApp group while you travel. Your consultant and our Hanoi office, open from take-off until you land home.
The short answers
| Question | Short answer | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Best time to go | November to March | December and January are the coolest and busiest. March is already hot. |
| How many days | 9 to 12 | Angkor needs two or three days, not five. The extra days belong on the coast or in the east. |
| Entry | e-visa online, or visa on arrival | Available to most nationalities. We confirm the current rule for your specific passport before quoting. |
| Getting around | Private car and driver, one short flight on longer routes | Phnom Penh to Siem Reap is about 200 miles (320 km) and five to six hours, or a 45-minute flight. |
| Typical budget | $95 to $500 per person per day | Land only, excluding international flights. Hotels move this figure more than anything else. |
The full breakdown is in our complete guide →
Eight ways to travel Cambodia
Every route below is a real itinerary we build, published day by day. Start from one and we will rebuild it around you.
- Classic Cambodia in 9 days, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and the southern coast
- Cambodia with children, 10 days, short legs, pools in the afternoons, the heavy history handled carefully
- Wild Cambodia, 12 days, the Cardamoms, Mondulkiri and Preah Vihear
- Romantic Cambodia, 9 days, two bases, a private temple morning and an island
- Food and culture, 11 days, markets, a Kampot pepper farm, weaving and shadow puppets
- Boutique Cambodia, 10 days, the few hotels genuinely worth their rate
- Cambodia and southern Vietnam, 14 days, the Mekong crossed by boat
- Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in 21 days, three countries, one office
Cambodia in the magazine
How much does Cambodia really cost? · Angkor in three days, temple by temple · Where to go on the Cambodian coast now · Khmer food: what to order · Cambodia month by month · Visiting Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek · Kampot and Kep in three days · Cambodia and Vietnam: how to split two weeks
Cambodia itineraries
Every one of these is a starting point, not a fixed departure. We change the length, the pace and the hotels to fit you.
Classic Cambodia in 9 days: Angkor, Phnom Penh and the coast
The first-visit route, and the shape most Cambodia trips should be. Three days at Angkor, which is the right number, two nights in Phnom…
Cambodia with children: 10 days built around the heat
Two things govern a Cambodian family trip and neither is on most itineraries. The first is temperature: children hit their limit in the heat…
Wild Cambodia: 12 days in the Cardamoms, Mondulkiri and the north
Cambodia has the largest surviving rainforest in mainland Southeast Asia, an eastern highland plateau where the Bunong still farm, and a temple on a…
Romantic Cambodia: 9 slow days for two
Two bases in nine days. That is the whole idea. Four nights in Siem Reap in a hotel with a courtyard and a pool…
Cambodia food and culture: 11 days, four kitchens
Khmer food is the least understood cuisine in Southeast Asia. It is quieter than Thai, less herbal than Vietnamese, sour rather than hot, and…
Boutique Cambodia: 10 days, and where the money actually goes
Cambodia has perhaps fifteen hotels we would put a client in at the top of the market and several hundred that charge boutique rates…
Cambodia and southern Vietnam in 14 days
The two countries share a river, and the best way to travel between them is on it. This route runs Angkor to Phnom Penh,…
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in 21 days
Three countries in three weeks is usually a warning sign. It works here for one reason: the three of them are a single operation…
What is in every Cambodia trip we build
- A day-by-day document with real drive times, not city names in a row
- Temple mornings sequenced so you are at the quiet end of Angkor while the groups are at the famous one
- Hotels chosen by location and by how well they cope with the heat, with the trade-offs written down
- Licensed English-speaking guides on the days that need context, and free days on the days that do not
- Private air-conditioned car and driver on every transfer
- Angkor passes bought at the official ticket office, in your names
- Restaurants booked, including the ones that seat twenty people
- Our Hanoi office on WhatsApp for the whole trip
Planning Cambodia, in detail
What we would skip in Cambodia, and what we book instead
This article costs us bookings and we publish it anyway, because the alternative is selling you a day you will resent.
Khmer food: what to order, and where
Khmer food is the least known of the four great mainland Southeast Asian cuisines and the one visitors are most likely to…
Cambodia for the first time: what actually surprises people
Most people arrive in Cambodia for the first time with one image in their head, a temple at dawn, and very little…
Phnom Penh, and how we place Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek
Two of the most important places in Cambodia are a former school and a former orchard on the edge of Phnom Penh.…
Cambodia month by month
The best time to visit Cambodia is a narrower question than it looks, because the country has two seasons rather than four…
Cambodia with children: what works, what does not, and what we change
Cambodia with children works, and it works better than most people expect, for a reason that has nothing to do with the…
Frequently asked questions
How many days do we need at Angkor?
Is Sihanoukville worth visiting?
Are the genocide sites suitable for our trip?
Do we need a guide the whole time?
Can we combine Cambodia with another country?
Is Cambodia safe?
Tell us roughly what you want. We will tell you honestly what works.
A named consultant in Tel Aviv, our own people on the ground, and a written plan you can argue with before you commit to anything.