Tours out of Ho Chi Minh City and across Vietnam
Vietnam and the neighbours
Cambodia given room, with Saigon at the start
Two nights in Saigon, then Cambodia properly: three at Angkor, two in Battambang, two in Phnom Penh and two on the river at Kampot with nothing much planned.
Overview
Most people see Cambodia in three days. This is the other way.
The usual Cambodian add-on is Siem Reap and home. That misses the country between the temples and the sea: Battambang’s old shophouse streets and rice country, the capital on its rivers, and the south coast where Kampot sits on a slow tidal river under the Bokor hills. None of these is spectacular in the way Angkor is. Together they are a better picture of Cambodia than the temples alone.
Saigon opens the trip because most of our travellers fly into it anyway, and two nights is enough to shake off the flight and see the centre. After that the whole trip is Cambodian, and it ends in Phnom Penh, which has the better international connections home.
- Length
- 12 days, 11 nights
- Start
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Finish
- Phnom Penh
- Flight
- Saigon to Siem Reap
- Longest drive
- About 5 hours, Battambang to Phnom Penh
- Pace
- Relaxed, two free half-days
Nights
Where the nights fall
Day by day
Twelve days, one at a time
Day 1
Land in Saigon
Pick-up at the airport and the drive into the centre. If there is daylight left, the cathedral and post office are ten minutes’ walk from most central hotels.
Day 2
Saigon with a guide
A morning walk that ends in Cho Lon: the palace, the war museum, then Binh Tay market and the Chinese assembly halls of District 5. The afternoon is yours.
Day 3
Fly to Siem Reap
About an hour and a quarter in the air, then roughly an hour from the new airport into town with our partner’s guide. Buy the Angkor pass in the late afternoon and use it for a first look at sunset.
Day 4
The central temples
Angkor Wat, the Bayon and the terraces, ordered so that you are inside the big temples when the coach groups are elsewhere. A long lunch break through the hottest hours.
Day 5
Banteay Srei and the Kbal Spean riverbed
North to Banteay Srei for its carved pink sandstone, then a forty-minute uphill walk through forest at Kbal Spean, where lingas and gods are carved into the riverbed itself. Afternoon at Ta Prohm, late, when it quietens.
Day 6
By road to Battambang
About three hours west through rice country along the edge of the Tonle Sap plain. Afternoon walk through the old centre: the colonial shophouses, the market, and the riverside.
Day 7
Battambang’s countryside
The bat exodus at Phnom Sampeau at dusk
By tuk-tuk or bicycle through the villages along the river: rice-paper makers, a fish-paste yard, fruit orchards, a hilltop temple at Phnom Banan. At dusk, Phnom Sampeau, where millions of bats pour out of a cave mouth for about half an hour.
Day 8
On to Phnom Penh
The long road day: about five hours south-east through Pursat and Kampong Chhnang, with a stop at a pottery village. Arrive late afternoon, with time for a walk along Sisowath Quay.
Day 9
Phnom Penh, and its history
Tuol Sleng in the morning, then Choeung Ek. We keep the rest of the morning empty, because most people need it. Afternoon at the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda, or simply a rest.
Day 10
South to Kampot
About three hours to the coast. The afternoon is a pepper farm in the hills behind town, where Kampot pepper is grown on vines up wooden posts, and a boat on the river at sunset.
Day 11
Kep, or nothing at all
Half an hour to Kep for the crab market, where the catch is bought off the boats and cooked on the spot, and a walk along the old seafront. Or skip it and stay by the river. We plan nothing else for this day, on purpose.
Day 12
Back to Phnom Penh to fly
About three hours back to Phnom Penh airport. For a midday flight we leave Kampot early; for an evening one you have the morning by the river.
Price
Price
| Travellers | Tier 1 — simple | Tier 2 — comfortable | Tier 3 — the good ones |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 travelling | from 1695 | from 2120 | from 3220 |
| 4 travelling | from 1390 | from 1735 | from 2640 |
| 6 travelling | from 1255 | from 1570 | from 2385 |
Most of the difference between tiers here is in Siem Reap and Kampot, where the Tier 3 hotels are genuinely good and priced to match. In Battambang the choice is small and the gap between tiers narrow. Swapping the five-hour road on day 8 for a flight is not practical — there are no regular flights from Battambang — so the road day is fixed.
Included
What is included
What the price includes
- Eleven nights in the hotel tier you choose, with breakfast
- Private car and driver throughout, and tuk-tuks in Battambang
- English-speaking guides on every touring day
- The flight from Saigon to Siem Reap, economy
- A three-day Angkor pass and the entry fees in the day-by-day
- The river boat at Kampot and the pepper farm visit
- Lunches as listed
- Our 24/7 line while you travel
What it does not include
- International flights
- Visas for Vietnam and Cambodia
- Travel insurance
- Drinks, most dinners and tips
- Anything on the free day at Kep
Practical
Things to know before you book
You enter Cambodia by air at Siem Reap and leave from Phnom Penh, which are the two places where Cambodia’s e-visa is most straightforward. A visa on arrival is also issued at the airports. Your Vietnam entry is separate and depends on your passport. Rules and accepted gates change, so we check both at the time of booking rather than relying on what was true last season.
Everything in Cambodia is operated with our long-standing local partner there: their guides, their drivers, our planning. We have worked together for years and we visit, but we do not have a Cambodian office, and we say so.
Rural Battambang province still has unexploded ordnance in places. Stay on paths and roads, and do not wander into fields, which your guide will remind you of more than once. From March to May every day of this trip will be hot, Kampot included; the coast is not a cool escape.
Not for everyone
Who this does not suit
If you want a beach holiday at the end, Kampot is not it: it is a river town, and Kep’s beach is small and plain. Book the islands off Phu Quoc in Vietnam instead, or add them. This trip also asks you to sit through two longish road days, and it does not suit anyone who has already done Angkor and only wants the coast — for that, we would start in Phnom Penh and cut the first half.
Common questions
Questions travellers ask most
Why not include Sihanoukville or the islands?
Sihanoukville has been largely rebuilt around casinos and is not somewhere we send people. The islands off it are a separate trip with its own boat logistics; we can add them if you have three more nights.
Is the bamboo railway in Battambang still running?
The original line has gone; a short tourist version runs near town. We include it only if you ask, because the countryside by tuk-tuk is the better afternoon.
Can the Saigon part be dropped?
Yes. Start in Siem Reap and the trip becomes ten days in Cambodia alone, with the price adjusted.
Related
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Cambodia
Siem Reap
Angkor on a three-day pass, planned around the crowds.
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Cambodia
Battambang
Shophouses, countryside and the bamboo train, three hours from Angkor.
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Cambodia
Kampot and Kep
Pepper, the Bokor hill station and crab at Kep.
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Cambodia
Phnom Penh
The capital: palace, museum, the genocide sites and the river.
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Example journey
Saigon and Angkor
Three nights in Saigon, a one-hour flight, three nights at Angkor.
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Tours
Tours
Day trips, regional routes and full-length itineraries.
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