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 temples: Cambodians are unusually warm towards children, restaurants are relaxed, and the food is mild. What it needs is a different itinerary from the adult version, not a shorter
The two constraints are heat and drive time. Everything below follows from those, plus one subject that needs handling with care.
The three rules we apply
One. The day is built around eleven o’clock. Out at opening, back by eleven, pool or shade until four, out again until dark. This is how we build adult Cambodia trips in the hot months and how we build family trips in every month. Children lose their tolerance for heat two hours before adults notice.
Two. One hotel change every three days, not every two. Roads average 30 to 35 miles an hour outside the new expressway, and Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, about 200 miles (320 km), is five to six hours. With children we fly that leg, which costs roughly $60 to $110 a person and buys back most of a day.
Three. Every base has a pool. Not a luxury on a family trip in Cambodia. It is the mechanism that makes the afternoon work, and it is why we choose hotels here on their pool and their air conditioning before their design.
What genuinely works
Angkor, in short concentrated sessions. Children last far better at Angkor than parents fear, provided the temples are chosen for climbing and atmosphere rather than for carving. Ta Prohm with trees growing through the masonry, the Bayon with 200 stone faces to count, and the elephant terrace at Angkor Thom will hold most eight-year-olds. Banteay Srei, which is the finest carving in the park, will not.
Two temple mornings is our usual family maximum, three at a stretch for teenagers. Our position that five days at Angkor is too many applies twice over with children.
Tuk-tuks. For a lot of children this is the trip. Open sides, slow speed, a driver who becomes a friend by day two. We use tuk-tuks for short temple hops and a car for anything long.
Phare, the Cambodian circus. Acrobatics and storytelling by graduates of the arts school in Battambang, about an hour, no language needed, and genuinely good rather than good for children. The best evening in Siem Reap for a family.
The floating villages on the Tonle Sap. A boat, stilt houses, a school on water, and a landscape nothing at home resembles. Best from November to January when the water is high. In March and April the villages sit above mud and the trip is much less interesting.
A cooking session. Market first, then rice cakes and amok. Children who will not try a new dish at a table will eat something they made.
The elephant project near Sen Monorom. Retired animals, observed and walked with rather than ridden. We do not book riding anywhere, in any form. This is a long drive east, so it belongs in a twelve-day trip.
Kep and Koh Rong Sanloem. Calm water, crab caught in front of you, and low-rise beach accommodation. This is where the trip should finish.
A pepper farm at Kampot. Small, hands-on, twenty minutes of interest and a smell they will remember.
What does not work
Long drive days. Anything over four hours in a car with young children in this heat is a bad day for everyone, and Cambodia has several such drives if the route is planned badly.
Temple density. Four temples in a morning is an adult itinerary. Two is a family one.
Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri with under-tens. Six to eight hours of rough road each way. Wonderful for teenagers who like forest and dirt, punishing for small children.
The Cardamoms with young children. Basic camps, real remoteness, limited medical access. From about fourteen it becomes an adventure. Below that we steer families elsewhere.
April in the middle of the day. Temperatures pass 95 F (35 C) regularly. We will build April family trips with a heavily shortened outdoor day and a serious pool, and we tell you plainly what the middle of the day will be like. Our month by month article has the full calendar.
The Phnom Penh memorial sites with young children. Covered below, because it deserves its own answer.
The hardest subject, handled properly
Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek are essential to understanding modern Cambodia and they are genuinely distressing. Photographs of victims, including children, are displayed at Tuol Sleng, and the site is a former school.
Our practice with families:
- With younger children, we do not include them. We build an alternative morning, and where the adults want to go we arrange for one to visit while the other is with the children, on separate mornings if both want to.
- With teenagers, we brief them properly beforehand and let them opt out on the day without any pressure. Some are ready and get a great deal from it. Some are not, and that is a reasonable answer.
- Never on a departure day, never immediately before a beach transfer, and always with a quiet, unstructured afternoon after it.
We write about this in more detail in Phnom Penh and the genocide sites. Being told in advance is the difference between a hard day that means something and a day that derails a week.
By age
Under 4. Workable at a slow pace, with a short trip and long stays. Two bases in nine days, Siem Reap and the coast, with the heat governing everything. Pushchairs do not work on temple ground, so bring a carrier.
5 to 9. The sweet spot for climbing temples, boats and tuk-tuks. Two temple mornings, the circus, a boat, and a beach at the end.
10 to 13. Old enough for a jungle temple, a cycling morning, a pepper farm and a proper conversation about the history without the memorial sites.
Teenagers. The full trip, including the eastern highlands, a Cardamom night if they want it, and the Phnom Penh sites if they choose to go. This is also the age at which Cambodia’s recent history lands hardest and most usefully.
The safety conversation, honestly
Heat and sun are the real risks, ahead of anything else. Hats, water in quantities that feel excessive, and the eleven o’clock rule.
Traffic. Cambodian roads are busy and lane discipline is loose. Hold hands at crossings, and use a car with seatbelts on long legs, which we specify rather than assume.
Stomachs. Bottled or filtered water only, including for teeth. Ice in established places is fine. Build up over the first two days rather than eating four unfamiliar meals on day one.
Mosquitoes. Dengue is present, including in the cities, and is a more realistic risk than malaria on standard itineraries. Repellent morning and evening, and speak to a travel clinic before you fly.
Medical facilities. Phnom Penh and Siem Reap have international-standard clinics. Outside them, provision is thin, which is one more reason we are cautious about small children in the far east and the Cardamoms.
Unexploded ordnance remains a genuine issue in a few rural border areas. Stay on marked paths, which our guides insist on anyway.
Would we send a family to Cambodia at all?
Yes, and often. It is one of the easier countries in Asia to travel with children once the day is structured correctly, and it gives children something Europe cannot: a landscape and a history entirely unlike their own, at a price that lets a family travel comfortably. Ten days, three bases, two temple mornings and a beach at the end is a very good family holiday. Our Cambodia with children route is exactly that.
Plan this trip
Tell us the ages of your children and your dates, and a specialist will build a Cambodia route around the heat, the drive times and the things that will actually hold their attention. Free first outline, no obligation.
Keep reading
- Cambodia with children, 10 days
- Cambodia, the complete guide to planning your trip
- Phnom Penh and the genocide sites
- Angkor in two days, three days, or five
- Cambodia month by month
- All our Cambodia trips
Frequently asked questions
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