Following the river from Saigon to the temples

Day 1

Arrive in Saigon

Airport pick-up and the drive into District 1 or 3. Nothing else is scheduled; a first evening in Saigon is best spent eating near the hotel and sleeping off the flight.

Day 2

Saigon, or Cu Chi

Choose between a morning in the city — the War Remnants Museum, the palace, Ben Thanh market — or a half-day to the tunnels at Cu Chi, which is about ninety minutes each way. Either way you are back by early afternoon for the heat.

Day 3

Into the delta, to Can Tho

Leave at eight and drive south, stopping at Cai Be for two hours on the smaller canals by sampan. Lunch on the way, then on across the Hau river bridge to Can Tho, about three and a half to four hours of driving in total. An evening walk along the Can Tho riverfront.

Day 4

Cai Rang at dawn, then west to Chau Doc

A boat at half past five to reach Cai Rang while the wholesale trade is still running — later in the morning it is mostly visitors. Back for breakfast, then about three hours west to Chau Doc. In the late afternoon, Sam mountain for the view over the rice plains into Cambodia, and a sampan past the floating fish farms.

Day 5

Upriver to Phnom Penh

The river border — no queue of buses, just a pontoon and a stamp

The speedboat leaves in the early morning. You clear Vietnamese exit formalities at Vinh Xuong, cross the line on the water, and do Cambodian entry at Kaam Samnor, then continue up the Mekong into Phnom Penh, usually arriving in the early afternoon. Our Cambodian partner’s guide meets the boat. The evening is free on the riverside.

Day 6

Phnom Penh: the palace, and the harder morning

We begin at Tuol Sleng, the school that became the S-21 prison, and continue to the killing field at Choeung Ek, about forty minutes south. Both are handled quietly and with an audio guide, and we do not rush them or schedule anything cheerful straight afterwards. After lunch and a rest, the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda and the National Museum in the late afternoon.

Day 7

To Siem Reap

The road north is five to six hours with a lunch stop; a flight takes about forty-five minutes and we can swap to it if you would rather keep the afternoon. By road you see Kampong Thom province and the stone-carving villages near Kampong Kdei, and arrive in Siem Reap in the late afternoon.

Day 8

Angkor: the big circuit, in reverse

Most visitors do the grand circuit clockwise, so we go the other way: Preah Khan and Neak Pean in the morning, Ta Som and East Mebon before lunch. Back to the hotel through the midday heat, then Pre Rup at sunset.

Day 9

Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm

The central temples, timed around the crowds: Ta Prohm at opening, the Bayon mid-morning, and Angkor Wat itself in the afternoon, when the light is on its western face and the sunrise crowd has long gone.

Day 10

Leave from Siem Reap

A free morning, then the hour’s drive to the airport for your flight.