Every question, in one place

Yes. Every itinerary on this site starts and ends inside Cambodia. We will happily advise on how a Cambodia leg fits with Vietnam, Laos or Thailand, and we will book your border crossing, but we do not guide outside the country.

For November to February, three to four months for the good hotels and one month for everything else. For May to September you can often book three weeks out and lose nothing at all.

Cheaper than Vietnam for food and beer, similar for hotels, more expensive than both for entrance fees. The Angkor pass alone is USD 62 for three days, and Koh Ker is a separate USD 15. Budget those separately from the trip price so nothing surprises you.

Yes, and many people do. Common shapes are Bangkok to Siem Reap by air, or Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh by road or river. Tell us the arrival point and we will build the Cambodia half around it.

No. It is often the better time. Rain falls in concentrated afternoon bursts, mornings are cooler than in the dry months, the moats are full and the stone is dark and photogenic. What you lose is guaranteed sunsets and easy access to unsealed roads.

April, on heat alone, and July to September if your trip includes Mondulkiri, Koh Ker or the Cardamoms, because the roads there are unsealed.

September and October. The lake can grow to several times its dry-season size, and the flooded forest at Kampong Phluk is only genuinely flooded in those months. By April the same villages stand on dry mud.

Rarely. A typical wet-season day gives you a clear morning, a heavy hour or two in the afternoon, and a bright evening. Plan temples early and you will barely notice it.

Yes, for Angkor itself. Three days lets you see the main enclosure, Banteay Srei and two or three quiet outer temples without spending the hottest hours on your feet. It is not enough for Angkor and anywhere else.

Drive if you want Kampong Thom or a stop at Sambor Prei Kuk on the way, fly if the day is otherwise wasted. The flight is about 45 minutes; the drive is six hours plus stops, and the new airports at both ends add up to two hours of transfer time to the total.

You can, and you will see Angkor and nothing else here. If Cambodia gets four days in a two-week Indochina trip, spend all four in Siem Reap rather than splitting them.

Two days, for Phnom Penh only, usually for people already in the region. For a first visit to the country we would push you to at least four.

Two. Below that we contact you and offer either a small supplement or a nearby date that already has bookings. We do not cancel departures that have people on them.

On small-group departures, yes, for an extra car and guide charged at cost, usually USD 90 to USD 120 for the day. Tell us in advance rather than on the morning.

Not automatically. We use the same guides for both. What changes is how much of that guide's attention and time you control, and whether the day can be rebuilt at breakfast.

With teenagers, often, because the social side helps. With children under ten, almost never, because a fixed departure cannot wait for a nap and a private car can.

Siem Reap if your trip starts with Angkor, which is most people. Phnom Penh if you are heading east or to the coast first. Flying into one and out of the other is almost always the better plan.

About 50 to 60 minutes at Siem Reap and 45 to 60 minutes at Phnom Penh, longer in the evening peak. Both airports are recent and considerably further out than the ones they replaced.

It is slow and it is the one crossing where touts are a genuine nuisance, but it is manageable if someone is waiting for you on the Cambodian side. If your dates allow, the Bangkok to Siem Reap flight is one hour and removes the problem.

Comfortably. It is six to seven hours door to door by road including the Bavet border, or 45 minutes in the air. The river route through Chau Doc takes a full day and is the nicest of the three.

Fly if you would otherwise lose a whole day. Drive if you want to stop at Kampong Thom and the pre-Angkorian towers at Sambor Prei Kuk, which are worth two hours and are almost never included in itineraries.

The main national roads are in good condition. The risk is other traffic, not the surface. We do not drive long legs after dark, which removes most of it, and our vehicles carry seatbelts in every seat, which is not universal here.

Between about September and January, yes, genuinely. It takes six to nine hours through flooded forest and stilt villages. At low water the boat either does not run or ends in a long transfer by road, and then it is not worth it.

In hotels and larger restaurants in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Kampot, yes. Outside those, carry cash. ATMs are common in towns and dispense US dollars, usually with a USD 4 to USD 6 fee per withdrawal.

USD 30 for both the e-visa and visa on arrival, plus a small processing charge on the e-visa. Any site quoting USD 60 or more is a reseller, not the government.

Usually about three working days. Apply a week or two before you fly. There is no advantage to applying months ahead, because the visa is valid for three months from issue and that clock starts immediately.

Yes, at both Siem Reap - Angkor International and Techo in Phnom Penh, and at the main land borders. Bring USD 30 in clean notes and a printed passport photo.

USD 10 for each day, paid at the airport when you leave. It is applied consistently. Longer overstays are recorded and can lead to being refused entry later.

USD 60 to USD 120 per room per night gets you a genuinely good hotel almost anywhere in Cambodia outside the Christmas fortnight. Below USD 45 you are in clean, simple, family-run places, which are often the friendliest part of the trip.

Only above about USD 200, where two or three genuinely excellent hotels start. Between USD 120 and USD 200 the owner-run boutiques are usually better than the branded options at the same price.

Yes, when you ask for one. They are basic: a mattress under a net, a shared bathroom with a water scoop, and an early household. We never include one as a surprise.

Until the balance is paid, freely, and we will show you the price difference either way. After that it depends on the hotel's own terms, which we pass on unchanged.

Because visits create demand for the institutions themselves, most children in them have living parents, and a stream of visiting strangers is harmful to children who are already vulnerable. If you want to help, support organisations that keep families together and do not ask for access to the children.

Yes, at forest projects in Mondulkiri where the animals live in the forest and are observed at a distance for part of a day. You will not ride, bathe or feed them, and on some days you will not get close at all.

Buying from children keeps them out of school, which is why organisations working in Siem Reap ask visitors not to. It is a genuinely hard moment and the answer that actually helps is to decline and to support a local education organisation instead.

Shoulders and knees covered. It is required for the upper level of Angkor Wat and checked at the entrance. Light long trousers or a long skirt and a loose shirt are cooler than they sound and are what Cambodians wear in the heat.

We operate inside Cambodia with Cambodian guides and drivers, all paid directly and on our own terms rather than through a subcontracted agent. Our full company and licence details appear on the booking terms page and on every invoice.

Because a testimonial on our own site is unverifiable and the honest ones read exactly like the invented ones. Ask and we will introduce you to two recent travellers from your country who you can email directly, without us in the thread.

We work with a small regular group rather than a pool. That is why we can tell you the guide's name at the quotation stage on most dates, and why we can match a guide to an interest such as epigraphy, textiles or birds.

We will plan and guide the Cambodian half properly and hand you over at the border to people who know the other country. We will not pretend to expertise we do not have outside Cambodia.

Within one working day, Cambodian time, with a real answer rather than an acknowledgement. If a proper reply needs longer, we will tell you that day when it is coming.

Yes. Send a message with two or three time windows in your own time zone and we will call you. We do not run an outbound sales operation, so the call happens when you ask for it and not before.

Yes, in Siem Reap, during Cambodian business hours Monday to Saturday. Message us first so the person who has been handling your trip is actually there when you arrive.

Call the 24-hour number in your final documents. It reaches a person in Cambodia who can authorise spending and change arrangements immediately, at any hour.

Siem Reap, all four. Angkor takes three days to see properly and the fourth gives you the Tonle Sap or Banteay Srei without rushing. Adding Phnom Penh to four days means spending one of them travelling.

Kep and Kampot are, if you have ten days or more. They are three hours from Phnom Penh, the crab market and pepper farms are genuinely good, and it is the most relaxed part of the country. Sihanoukville is not what it was and we do not send people there.

Battambang, consistently. People add it as a stop on the way and then wish they had given it another night. Mondulkiri surprises people who expected Cambodia to be flat and hot everywhere.

Yes, at Kampi near Kratie on the Mekong. The Mekong population has recovered to just over a hundred animals in recent counts, and sightings on a morning boat trip are common though never guaranteed.

USD 37 for one day, USD 62 for three days and USD 72 for seven. The three-day pass is valid on any three days within a ten-day window and the seven-day within a month, so you can spread visits around the heat.

Once, and preferably on your second morning rather than your first. Expect one to three thousand people. The reflecting pools are the crowded spot; the north side of the causeway is calmer and the light is the same.

Two full days covers the main enclosure and Banteay Srei. Three lets you split each day around the midday heat and add Preah Khan, Ta Som and the Roluos group without rushing. Beyond three, most people are saturated.

Shoulders and knees covered, and shoes with grip. The dress code is checked at the upper level of Angkor Wat and people are turned away every day. Light long trousers are cooler than shorts in direct sun.

Three at minimum, four if you want a day that is not a temple day. Three gives you an arrival evening, two full days at Angkor and a departure; the fourth buys the Tonle Sap, Banteay Srei without rushing, or simply a rest.

About 45 km east, roughly 55 minutes by road. The old airport near the temples closed in 2023. Plan an extra hour at each end of your trip compared with older guidebooks.

Between August and December, yes, at Kampong Phluk or the quieter Kampong Khleang. Outside those months the lake is low and it is not. We would rather tell you than sell you the boat.

It barely matters. Every hotel in town is 6 to 8 km from the park. Choose on the neighbourhood instead: Wat Bo and the east bank for quiet, the Old French Quarter to walk to dinner.

Two nights. One morning for Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek with the afternoon left empty, and one day for the palace, the National Museum, the markets and the riverfront. A third night is easy to fill if you like cities.

Most people should, and it is a decision rather than an item on a list. Do both on one morning, in that order, with the audio guides, and leave the afternoon empty. We would not take a child under about fourteen.

Techo International, about 20 km south of the centre, opened on 9 September 2025. Allow 45 to 60 minutes each way, more in the evening peak. The old Pochentong airport no longer handles scheduled flights.

For ordinary travel, yes, with the same caution you would use in any large city. Bag snatching from motorbikes is the one specific risk worth knowing about: carry your bag on the side away from the road and do not use a phone at the kerb.

Two nights. One day for the town, the village workshops and the circus school, and one afternoon for Wat Banan or Phnom Sampeau finishing with the bats at dusk.

Yes. Several million bats leave the same cave mouth every evening around six and the column takes twenty to forty minutes to pass. It costs nothing, it happens daily, and it is one of the few natural spectacles in Cambodia you can rely on.

A purpose-built version runs near Wat Banan. The original line outside town was cleared when the railway was rehabilitated, and whether part of it is operating changes. We check in the month you travel rather than promising it.

Between about September and January, yes: six to nine hours through flooded forest and stilt villages. Outside those months the water is too low and the trip becomes a long hot drive by another name.

Three. Two in Kampot for the river, the pepper farms and Bokor, one in Kep for the crab market and Rabbit Island. You can base in one and day-trip to the other; they are 35 minutes apart.

No, and treating it as one leads to disappointment. Kep's shore is a narrow imported beach and mangrove. It is a crab market, a ruined resort town and a national park, and it is lovely on those terms.

Roughly February to May, with green pepper earliest. Outside those months you can walk the plantations and see the vines, but not the picking and sorting.

Half a day, yes, for the drive up through forest, the cool air and the abandoned casino and church. Know that a large modern casino development shares the plateau; people who are not told that in advance find it jarring.

Not with us, and we would encourage you not to anywhere. At the forest projects we use you walk in and watch the elephants feed and move, from a distance they choose. You will not ride, bathe or hand-feed them.

Six and a half to seven and a half hours from Phnom Penh on sealed road, or four to four and a half from Kratie. There is no flight. Give the province three nights or leave it out.

Cool, by Cambodian standards. Nights in December and January can drop to about 15 degrees at a thousand metres, and mornings in the forest are genuinely fresh. Bring one warm layer, which almost nobody packs for Cambodia.

Forest walks in the Seima protected area with a real chance of douc and gibbon, Bousra waterfall, Bunong villages, grassland hills, and coffee and pepper smallholdings. Three days fills easily.

Sightings are common on a dawn or late-afternoon boat at the Kampi pool, and never guaranteed. Expect a back and a blunt head at a distance for a second or two at a time. December to May is the more reliable window.

Recent counts put the Mekong population at just over a hundred, up from a low of around eighty. New calves have been recorded each year recently. It remains one of the world's most endangered cetacean populations.

Yes for the dolphins and the riverfront. Two if you want Koh Trong island properly, which is a half day of cycling through pomelo orchards and is better than it sounds.

Yes. It is about three hours north to Stung Treng and then the Trapeang Kriel border into southern Laos and Si Phan Don. We book the crossing and the transfer on both sides.

If you have ten days or more and you want forest rather than temples, yes. It is the largest intact rainforest in mainland Southeast Asia and it is almost empty. On a seven-day trip it is the wrong use of two travel days.

Birds, macaques, and gibbons heard more often than seen. Elephants, sun bears and cats are present and almost never seen. Anyone promising otherwise is selling something.

A community-based ecotourism project in a former logging and poaching village, where guiding and homestay income replaced income from the forest. Guides are often former hunters and are exceptionally good. Accommodation is basic.

November to March. From May to October the tracks are impassable and leeches are constant, though the river lodges and boat trips still work and the waterfall is at its most impressive.

Both. Every route runs as a small-group departure with a maximum of eight people on published dates, and privately on any date you choose. The tour pages show both prices.

No, and no honest operator includes it, because it is issued in your name with your photograph. We buy it for you at cost: USD 37 for one day, USD 62 for three, USD 72 for seven.

Yes, and most people do. Swapping hotels, adding nights, reversing the direction or removing a site costs nothing to ask about and usually changes the price by less than people expect.

Three to four months for November to February if you want specific hotels. For May to September, three weeks is often enough and you lose nothing by waiting.

Yes, if the first morning is used well and the first afternoon is left empty. Two days covers the Khmer Rouge sites, the Royal Palace, the National Museum, both main markets and the riverfront without hurrying.

Of course, at no change in price, and we will fill the morning with the Russian Market, a food walk and the riverfront instead. Tell us when you book rather than on the morning.

To Phnom Penh, yes. To Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek, we would not take a child under about fourteen, and there is no official minimum age, so the decision is yours. Say so at booking and we will build the day differently.

Techo International, about 20 km south of the city, which replaced Pochentong in September 2025. Allow 45 to 60 minutes each way, longer in the evening peak. Both transfers are included whatever time you land.

No. It is issued in your name with your photograph, so no operator can include it honestly. We buy it for you at cost on the first morning: USD 62 for the three-day pass this itinerary uses.

Twice, yes. The early starts are what buy you empty temples and a free afternoon. If you would rather start at eight, we will build that trip, and you should know it will be a hotter and busier one.

Yes, on day two. We stand on the north side of the causeway rather than at the reflecting pools, and we go inside at 06:20 when the sunrise crowd leaves for breakfast.

For some people, yes, and it usually arrives on the third afternoon. This itinerary front-loads the essential temples and keeps day three short and out of town, so if fatigue hits you have already seen what you came for.

No, and it is the most common misunderstanding about the southern coast. Kep's beach is narrow and imported and Kampot has no coast. The appeal is the river, the pepper country, Bokor and the crab market.

Roughly February to May, with green pepper picked earliest. Outside those months you walk the plantations and see the vines, but the drying yards and sorting tables are quiet.

Yes. We can start at Sihanoukville, at the Ha Tien border from Vietnam, or from Kampot itself if you are making your own way down. The price changes by the transfer cost, which is usually small.

For the drive up through forest, the temperature drop and the abandoned church and casino, yes. Know in advance that a large modern casino development shares the plateau. People who are told beforehand enjoy it; people who are not feel misled.

No. You walk into the forest and watch them feed and move at whatever distance they choose, which is sometimes twenty metres and sometimes eighty. No riding, no bathing, no hand-feeding. That is the entire point of the projects we use.

Four and a half hours on day one, four and a half on day two, and about seven on the way back. All on sealed road. There is no flight to Mondulkiri and there will not be one, so the drives are the price of the province.

Usually. Sightings on a dusk boat at the Kampi pool are common and never guaranteed, and what you see is a back and a blunt head at a distance for a second at a time. December to May is the more reliable window.

If you want the evening more than you want a comfortable bed, yes. It is a mattress under a mosquito net, a shared wash with a water scoop, and a household awake at five. We never include one without being asked.

No. Koh Ker charges a separate USD 15, cash only at the gate, and it is included in your price. Beng Mealea is covered by the Angkor pass. This catches people out every week.

Eight hours of driving and a climb of around four kilometres along the spur with little shade. The last stretch up the escarpment is by shared 4x4 or moto, which is included. It is the hardest day we run in northern Cambodia and it is worth it.

It is open and visited regularly, with a military presence on site because of the long-running border dispute. We check conditions in the week you travel and will substitute a second Koh Ker day at no cost if we are not satisfied.

Yes, by dropping the Roluos morning, and we would rather you dropped Preah Vihear and kept five. Squeezing that day into a shorter trip is how it becomes eight hours of driving that you resent.

For the temples, the capital and one more place, yes, and comfortably. It is not enough for the coast or the eastern highlands as well; both need three nights and a travel day each.

This itinerary drives via Battambang, which costs no extra day. If you drop Battambang and go direct, the drive is six hours and the flight is 45 minutes, though the new airports at both ends add about two hours of transfers to the total.

Yes, at no change in price. We replace the last morning with a food walk, the Russian Market and the riverfront. Tell us at booking rather than on the morning.

Siem Reap first, slightly, because the National Museum in Phnom Penh reads much better after you have stood in the temples the sculpture came from. Either works, and flight prices sometimes decide it for you.

No. Ten days is where the country stops being a highlights reel and you can put a genuinely different landscape in the middle. Fourteen adds the east; ten is the point at which nothing feels rushed.

Yes. The Ha Tien border is 40 minutes from Kep and puts you on Phu Quoc or in the Mekong Delta the same day. We handle the crossing and the transfer on both sides for about USD 40 more.

Commonly, yes: a rest day and the Tonle Sap at Siem Reap, or three nights in the Cardamoms later in the trip. Battambang is the element people are least sure about beforehand and most pleased with afterwards.

Between November and April, yes, and it is the reason people like the shape of this trip. Between June and October we would tell you to spend those nights elsewhere.

If hill forest, Bunong villages and elephants living in forest are what you want, yes, and people consistently name it as the part they remember. If you would rather have four more days at the coast, take the ten-day route instead.

Seven hours on sealed road with two breaks, and there is no flight. We schedule it as a whole day and arrive in Phnom Penh in the early evening rather than pretending it can be combined with anything else.

We would advise against it. The coast at the end does not work between June and October, and the laterite tracks in Mondulkiri turn slow and slippery. The temples are fine; the shape of the trip is not.

It is seven different bases with two long drives, which some people love and some find restless. If you would rather go deeper in four places, tell us and we will build that instead. It is often the better trip.

Usually two things. Our guides are on a day rate 30 to 40 percent above the local norm because they earn nothing from shops, and we cap groups at eight rather than filling a coach. If a cheaper quote names its hotels, includes all entrance fees and caps the group, it may simply be a smaller operator taking less margin, and we will say so.

No, and no honest operator includes it, because it is issued in your name with your photograph. We buy it for you at cost on the first morning: USD 37 for one day, USD 62 for three, USD 72 for seven.

Hotels do, sharply: December and January run 40 to 100 percent above June for the same room. Guiding, transport and entrance fees do not move. We quote your actual dates rather than a headline price.

The balance, yes, in US dollars against a numbered receipt. The 25 percent deposit has to be transferred in advance, because it is what commits us to your hotels.

25 percent to confirm, with the balance due 21 days before arrival or payable in cash on arrival if you prefer. The deposit is what commits your hotels, guide and vehicle for those dates.

Three to four months for November to February if you want particular hotels; a month is enough for everything else in that season. For May to September, three weeks out is often fine and you lose nothing by waiting.

Freely until the balance is due, and after that subject to individual hotel terms, which we pass on unchanged. We do not charge an administration fee for changes.

Call the 24-hour number. Your driver tracks the flight and will be there whenever you land. If a delay costs you a night or an excursion we rebuild the following days and refund anything we recover from suppliers.

Yes. Every itinerary on this site starts and ends inside Cambodia. We will happily advise on how a Cambodia leg fits with Vietnam, Laos or Thailand, and we will book your border crossing, but we do not guide outside the country.

For November to February, three to four months for the good hotels and one month for everything else. For May to September you can often book three weeks out and lose nothing at all.

Cheaper than Vietnam for food and beer, similar for hotels, more expensive than both for entrance fees. The Angkor pass alone is USD 62 for three days, and Koh Ker is a separate USD 15. Budget those separately from the trip price so nothing surprises you.

Yes, and many people do. Common shapes are Bangkok to Siem Reap by air, or Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh by road or river. Tell us the arrival point and we will build the Cambodia half around it.

No. It is often the better time. Rain falls in concentrated afternoon bursts, mornings are cooler than in the dry months, the moats are full and the stone is dark and photogenic. What you lose is guaranteed sunsets and easy access to unsealed roads.

April, on heat alone, and July to September if your trip includes Mondulkiri, Koh Ker or the Cardamoms, because the roads there are unsealed.

September and October. The lake can grow to several times its dry-season size, and the flooded forest at Kampong Phluk is only genuinely flooded in those months. By April the same villages stand on dry mud.

Rarely. A typical wet-season day gives you a clear morning, a heavy hour or two in the afternoon, and a bright evening. Plan temples early and you will barely notice it.