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 that nobody else is in, and four on an island where the only decision is which end of the beach. One transfer in the middle, and a temple morning that belongs to you rather than to a coach
- Duration
- 9 days
- Pace
- Slow
- Hotel changes
- 2
- Best months
- Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar
- From
- $2,520 per person
Cambodia is not an obvious honeymoon country, which is exactly why it works. It is quiet, it is inexpensive relative to what the same money buys in Thailand or the Maldives, and there is a genuine sense of having gone somewhere.
Who it suits: couples, honeymooners and anyone who unpacks once and stays put. Not a sightseeing itinerary.
Your specialist: Osnat Angerman, with our Hanoi office arranging the private access.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Siem Reap. Private transfer from the airport, an hour east of town. A colonial-era villa hotel or a small design property on the quiet side of the river, with the room upgraded where we can get it. Nothing scheduled. Dinner booked five minutes away.
Day 2: Angkor, before anyone else. Out at opening with a private guide and a private car. The Bayon first, at the hour when the light comes flat across the stone faces and there are perhaps thirty people in a temple built for thousands. Then Ta Prohm, then the long walk round Angkor Thom’s terraces. Back by half past eleven. The afternoon is a spa treatment or the pool, and we mean the whole afternoon. Out again at four for Angkor Wat, and sunset from Srah Srang with a picnic and cold drinks set up on the terrace above the water: not a large production, just a table, two chairs and nobody else.
Day 3: Banteay Srei and a slow afternoon. An hour into the countryside to Banteay Srei, small, pink and better carved than anything else in Cambodia. Home by lunch. Afternoon free. In the evening, a private dinner in the courtyard of a restored wooden house, cooked by a Khmer chef, which our Hanoi office arranges and which is the meal people remember from the trip.
Day 4: Siem Reap, nothing scheduled. Deliberately empty. Options in your document if you want them: a hot air balloon at dawn over the rice fields, a silk farm, the old market, or a bicycle through the villages north of town. Most couples spend the day at the hotel and we consider that a success.
Day 5: To the coast and the island. Flight or drive to Sihanoukville port, then a fast boat of 30 to 45 minutes across to Koh Rong Sanloem. We use Sanloem rather than Koh Rong itself, which is louder. Arrive for a late lunch. Four nights in a small beachfront property, ideally in a bungalow with the sea about twenty feet from the door.
Days 6, 7 and 8: The island. Nothing scheduled at all. Swimming, snorkelling off the reef, a boat to a beach on the far side, kayaks, hammocks, and the plankton that lights up in the water on a dark night. There is no traffic on the island and in most places no road. One evening we book a table on the sand with the kitchen sending out whatever came in that morning.
Day 9: Island to departure. Morning boat back to the port and transfer to the airport. If your flight is late we hold a day room.
What is included
Four nights in a small character hotel in Siem Reap with breakfast, four nights beachfront on Koh Rong Sanloem, all transfers by private air-conditioned car, the island fast boat both ways, a private licensed guide and car for two temple days, the three-day Angkor pass in your names, the sunset picnic at Srah Srang, the private courtyard dinner in Siem Reap, one beach dinner on the island, a spa treatment each in Siem Reap, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant and our Hanoi office for the whole trip.
What we would change, and when
- Travelling June to October? The island crossing cancels more often and the sea is rougher. We move the beach half to Kep and Rabbit Island, which is calmer and closer, or we suggest different dates.
- Want the capital? Add two nights in Phnom Penh between the temples and the island. It is a good city and it also means visiting Tuol Sleng, which we would not put in the middle of a honeymoon without discussing it first.
- Prefer a resort to a bungalow? Song Saa and the more developed properties in the archipelago are a different level of comfort and a different level of price. We will price both.
- Nine days is not enough? Eleven, with two more island nights. Almost nobody has ever regretted the extra beach days.
Honest notes
There is no realistic way to make the Angkor Wat sunrise romantic. Several thousand people stand at one reflecting pool in the dark. We have replaced it with the Bayon at opening and Srah Srang at sunset, both of which are quiet, and we think you will thank us. If you want the sunrise anyway, say so and we will do it properly.
Island accommodation on Koh Rong Sanloem is charming rather than luxurious. Power on some parts of the island is generator-based and can be off for part of the day, water pressure is variable and the wifi is poor. That is a fair price for a beach with nobody on it, but it should not be a surprise.
Cambodia in December and January has the best weather and the highest rates. If you can travel in the second half of November or in early March, you get almost the same weather for noticeably less.
Built by Osnat Angerman, our Southeast and Central Asia specialist, and checked by our Hanoi office before it goes out.
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