Trip overview
Four days does not stretch far across two Cambodian cities, so this route spends the time on purpose: one night in Phnom Penh, enough for arrival and a morning of sightseeing, then north to Siem Reap where the Angkor temples take up the larger part of the schedule. This suits you if Angkor sits at the top of your list but skipping the capital altogether would feel like too much left out.
Travellers wanting more time in Phnom Penh itself should look at our 5-night and 6-night Cambodia combinations instead, both of which give the capital a full sightseeing day of its own rather than a single morning.
Trip highlights
- A brief but real look at Phnom Penh before continuing north
- Angkor Wat, raised in the twelfth century for King Suryavarman II
- Bayon Temple’s carved stone faces and the eleventh-century Baphuon inside Angkor Thom
- Ta Prohm, still tangled in the roots of strangler fig and silk-cotton trees
- Sunset from Phnom Bakheng, the hilltop temple overlooking the Angkor plain
Your day-by-day itinerary
Day 1: Arrive Phnom Penh
A driver meets your flight at Phnom Penh International Airport and takes you into the city; there is no guide on this transfer. The rest of the day is unplanned, which suits an early evening walk along the riverfront if you are not too tired from the flight.
Day 2: Phnom Penh sightseeing, then on to Siem Reap
After breakfast and checkout, a guided morning in Phnom Penh gives you a compressed but genuine look at the city, adjustable to whatever interests you most before time runs short. You then head north to Siem Reap, roughly six hours by road, arriving with enough of the evening left to settle in before the temple day ahead.
Day 3: Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm
Angkor Wat opens the day, oriented toward the setting sun rather than the sunrise like most Khmer sanctuaries, and large enough that a full morning is spent inside its walls alone. Angkor Thom follows through its South Gate, bringing you to Bayon Temple’s carved faces and the eleventh-century Baphuon, raised for Shiva, before a walk past the Terrace of the Elephants and, next to it, the Terrace of the Leper King.
Lunch, taken independently, is near Srah Srang, followed by Ta Prohm, where fig roots still grip the stonework much as they did when the site was rediscovered. The day closes with sunset seen from Phnom Bakheng, the hill temple above it all.
Day 4: Departure from Siem Reap
After breakfast, a driver takes you out to Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport, about 50 km from town, in time for your onward or homeward flight. Leave a wider margin than you might expect, given how far out the runway sits, since the day carries no other plans.
What’s included
- Hotels in the class you choose, twin or double occupancy, with breakfast each morning, or an equivalent property if the one named is full.
- All meals written into the day-by-day programme below.
- A private air-conditioned vehicle for every transfer and excursion in the programme.
- An English-speaking local guide at each stop on the route.
- Every boat trip, river crossing and cruise named in the itinerary.
- Entrance fees for the sites listed in the programme.
- Drinking water in the vehicle and on boat days.
- Government tax and service charge.
Not included
- International and domestic flights, and rail tickets.
- Visas, and any fee collected at a border post.
- Travel insurance.
- Meals and drinks that are not written into the programme.
- Personal spending such as laundry, phone calls, minibar, souvenirs and watersports.
- Early check-in, late check-out and room upgrades.
- Anything added on the day at your request outside the printed programme.
- Gratuities for your guide and driver.
- Costs arising from weather, flooding, road closures or other events beyond our control.
- Bank transfer charges.
Booking this trip
- Days
- 4 days / 3 nights
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