Cambodia round trip – From the Killing Fields to Angkor Wat 5 days/4 nights

Bangkok – Phnom Penh: Royal Palace and river-sailing
You will be picked up at your hotel in Bangkok early morning and be driven to the airport to fly with Thailand’s “boutique airline”, Bangkok Airways, or the low-cost airline AirAsia to Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh (transfer in Thailand and flights are not included in the price, but can be arranged).

At the airport your guide will be waiting with a Thailand Tours sign. You will drive to a 3-star hotel in an excellent central location in Phnom Penh. You get a couple of hours to relax or walk around the neighborhood. Try lunch at one of the cozy sidewalk restaurants down by the river.

Afterwards we’ll depart to the Royal Palace, taking local transportation; the three-wheeled “tuk tuk”. You must try this. The Royal Palace is an impressive building dating from 1886 and the residence of the King. At the royal palace you will find “The Silver Pagoda”, which houses many national treasures; one important attraction being a human-sized Buddha figure adorned with more than 9000 diamonds. Literally, a precious sight.

There is time for afternoon coffee in one of the many French sidewalk-restaurants, where you truly feel the pulse of Phnom Penh. Afterwards you will board a boat that will take you on the Tonlé Sap river, where you can experience a memorable sunset over Phnom Penh. The trip is an hour long.

The evening is at your disposal. One of many recommendations is dinner at the “Foreign Correspondents Club”, which is down by the river.

Phnom Penh: The Killing Fields, S21 and the Russian Market
After breakfast at the Castle hotel, we leave before noon for a historic scene in Cambodia you shouldn’t miss. About 20 kilometers from Phnom Penh lie the “Killing Fields” of Choeung Ek, where the Khmer Rouge killed thousands of prisoners during the Pol Pot regime.

On site, a monument has been raised in memory of those who lost their lives. You will see thousands of skulls and during the tour you will see different mass graves. The guide will explain how the executions were carried out. It is a sobering experience to visit the place. The trip then continues to the Tuol Sleng museum; formerly a school but under Pol Pot, converted to S-21, better known as the Security Police Prison. The place has been preserved as found by the Vietnamese forces, who overthrew Pol Pot. There is no shortage of gruesome details about the methods that were used to torture innocent Cambodians. We drive back to a more comfortable reality by having lunch at a local restaurant.

After lunch it is a short drive out to the Russian Market, where you can buy anything imaginable. The experience of being at the market is most likely greater than the temptation to buy the  knick-knacks. We are back at Castle hotel by the afternoon. The rest of the day is at your disposal. The guide will gladly help with recommendations, if the plan is to dine out.

Phnom Penh – Siam Reap (Angkor Wat)
After another breakfast at the hotel, we leave for the airport before noon. After a short flight we check-in at the hotel in Siam Reap.

There is time to relax a bit at the hotel. In the early afternoon, we get to experience one of the Seven Wonders; Angkor Wat, truly one of the most incredible buildings. The temples of Angkor is only about five kilometers from Siam Reap but extends over an impressive area of approximately 60 square kilometers. It is not possible to see the whole area in one day, so this day we will focus on the temples of Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei, not far from the fantastic main temple of Angkor Wat.

Last visit of the day is Phnom Bakheng, located on a hill overlooking a large part of the temple area. The perfect location for a beautiful sunset. The atmosphere at the temples of Angkor can be overwhelming and leaving just after sunset is the perfect time.

Siam Reap (Angkor Wat)
We leave for the temples of Angkor before both sunrise and breakfast. We are going to experience the Bayon temple – the temple with the huge facial reliefs. Afterwards we drive back to the hotel and have breakfast. Before noon, we drive to Angkor Wat for the last time to experience the main temples of Angkor Thom and Ta Prom, which have been partly absorbed by the jungle. Full off experiences, we drive back to Raffles to relax. Early in the afternoon it is possible to see more of the city. We recommend a lunch at one of the many cozy restaurants in Siam Reap. After a bit of sightseeing in Siam Reap, we drive to the outskirts of the city, where the floating village on the Tonlé Sap lake is located. People of Vietnamese descent live here in wooden houses raised on stilts on the lake. We get onboard a small boat and get to see this special and interesting area from the seaside. We are back in the evening, probably tired. The evening is at your disposal.

Siam Reap – Bangkok
In the morning you get to relax before being picked up to go to the airport. After a one-hour flight with Bangkok Airways or AirAsia, you will be arrive at Bangkok Airport and be driven to your Bangkok hotel, where new adventures begin.