Travel to Cambodia

Here we present the wonders of Cambodia, describing destinations, climate, costs, itinerary ... in short, everything you need for a trip to this picturesque country.

What to see in Cambodia

Cambodia It is a country full of attractions. Angkor's temples are famous all over the world, but there are many other less tourist destinations that deserve a visit. Kratie, for example, can be the starting point for wonderful excursions on the Mekong, where time has stopped. Around Kampong Cham there are temples without tourists and other interesting attractions. Phnom Penh is the chaotic capital with the sumptuous royal palace. Throughout the country there are picturesque characteristic villages, such as floating villages (and on piles) of Lake Tonlè SAP. Finally, for a beach holiday, the Cambodian coasts and above all its islands have beaches and palm trees from tropical paradise.

When going on vacation in Cambodia

The dry season in Cambodia goes from December to May, but in spring the heat is crazy. In December and January, on the other hand, temperatures of about 30 degrees will surely like most travelers: you can live in shorts and t-shirts! Angkor Wat, however, can be better appreciated out of season when tourists are few.

How much it costs to travel to Cambodia

little! Cambodia is one of the cheapest countries for tourists. In the markets, you can have lunch with just over a euro. Basic double rooms but decent cost 10 euros per night and bus transport is cheap. Attention, though: at Phnom Penh and Siem Reap prices rise and entrance to Angkor costs $ 37 for a day or 62 for 3 days.
By the way, on a trip to Cambodia you can conveniently use US dollars, accepted everywhere With fixed change with Riel (local currency). The only rip-off: for so many things that would cost 20 cents they will ask you any dollar, especially to Phnom Penh, therefore a bit of Cambodian Riel will be useful.

How to move to Cambodia

Many tourists create your own travel itinerary with internal flights, buses and tours. In the city, taxi and tuk tuk are cheap (but don't let yourself be fooled, on the taxis ask you to use the "meter" and the Tuk-tuk agreed in advance the price). In the busy places, it's nice to rent a scooter or a bicycle. It is not possible to rent a car, but a car with driver, if you are more than 2, can be a very efficient way to see different places saving time.

Travel itinerary in Cambodia

Starting from a synthetic story of our vacation in Cambodia, I present here some wonderful destinations, adding useful information about food, displacement, costs and more.
For us, everything started by Vietnam: from Chau Doc, just beyond border, We took a boat that brought us to Phnom Penh along the Mekong . This is a very valid way to get triumphantly in Cambodia, since I have Chi Minh City (in Vietnam) is nearby and there are many international flights.

Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia, but it does not represent it at its best: dirty, chaotic and expensive for tourists (relative to the rest of the country, of course).
on the other hand, the central market is characteristic, the pleasant riverfront, and The real palace really elegant. The Wat Phnom , at the top of a low hill, is a small oasis of peace in the city center. An afternoon and one evening have been sufficient for us to appreciate Phnom Penh.

To move from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, we had decided to rent a car with a driver for 3 days. This allowed us to see some of the most beautiful and less tourist destinations in Cambodia without wasting time in complicated displacements - even if the Cambodian buses are punctual. In short, the car costs more, but if you count the time saved actually can agree. Then our Ben (who asked us 90 dollars a day) was very good!

The first stage was the insect market of Skuon . The market is picturesque albeit tourist, and in any case the Cambodians will gladly eat fried insects as tasty snacks. Second destination, on the road to Kampong Cham, the beautiful temple of Phnom Pros . In this temple we have not seen tourists, but, on the other hand, numerous monkeys. This hill in the middle of the green is very characteristic, considering also that there is a school for Buddhist monks and, nearby, the temple of Phnom Srei.

Even the Temple of Wat Nokor , in the style of those Angkor, was extremely fascinating, without tourists, without monkeys, but with cows grazing around. A shiny temple more modern was built inside the ancient stone temple.

For lunch, we stopped at Kampong Cham . Also this town outside the tourist routes deserves to be inserted in a travel itinerary in Cambodia because really picturesque, especially in its large market, the most authentic met in our vacation. Here we also ate the best noodles of the trip, very tasty, at the price of two dollars including a gigantic coconut to drink.

at Kampong Cham the main attraction is the Bamboo Bridge that every year It is built at the beginning of the dry season to cross the Mekong to the island of Koh Paen and then destroyed by the full of the river in the rainy season.

Once it was the only way to get to the island, but for some years it has been built more downstream an indestructible concrete bridge, so the bridge of bamboo has lost importance and is also narrowest than once ... but always Charming!

After jumping on the bridge to try the resistance we went to kratie (about two hours drive from Kampong Cham, going up along the Mekong) where we arrived in time for a short turn to the market and, Above all, to enjoy the sunset from the beautiful riverfront.

A note on the dinners: we have always eaten well during our journey, satisfied with the soups full of coriander or meat seasoned with tasty sauces like the Lok Lak and the amok . .. delicious!
The next day we made a canoe descent along the gigantic Mekong , so as to admire also I Irrawaddy Dolphins , freshwater dolphins a Extinguishing risk. This kayak trip was one of the most beautiful moments of the journey, between Anse trees and islets from which to dive into the dry season (while in the rainy season the Mekong waters also go up 15 meters, submerging everything).

Irrawaddy dolphins we were able to see only the backs and fins, and the photos suck, but in person it was exciting, also because they were several around us.

In the afternoon, instead, from Kratie we took a barchetta sweeping for the island of Koh Trong , in the middle of the Mekong, where we rented a bike. The narrow road that runs the dick of the islet is a ten kilometers long. Not much, but at Koh Trong it should be dedicated at least a few hours to admire the fascinating rural life, the floating village and the happy atmosphere of the place.

After a long day, our good driver took us to sleep at Kampong Cham, where we ate the excellent amok and the excellent Lok Lak (in synthesis, meat , vegetables and delicious sauces not well identified).
The next day we went to Kampong KhleAng on the road to Siem Reap. This village on pilfitte - indeed, a real city of nearly 15,000 inhabitants - is resounding and must be absolutely visited during a holiday in Cambodia. Kampong Khleang is located on Lake Tonle Sap, which in the rainy rains of various meters levels.

People lives fishing and agriculture, but there is also a crocodile breeding run by a nice little family!

The stilts are just one of the ways to live with the floods of the lake. The other is the floating houses.
Kampong Khleang is one of the various villages floating on the great lake Tonle Sap , probably the one with the highest and surprising stilts. Tourists from Siem Reap go to visit the largest villages near the city, while Kampong Khleang is less frequented by tours.

Finally, after 3 intense and exciting days, the driver took us to Siem Reap , final stage of our travel itinerary with him. Siem Reap is another world than the rest of Cambodia. Organized city for tourism, full of hotels, agencies, bars and restaurants, still preserves its charm thanks to the markets (day and night) and some temples with their parks.

In Siem Reap you obviously go to visit the temples of Angkor , which for many is the only stage of their journey to Cambodia, or in any case that around which it rotates their itinerary. To see Angkor you can opt for bikes, scooters, tuk-tuk, taxi or organized buses. The entrance ticket costs $ 37 for a day or 62 for 3 days, and obviously in my opinion two days is the right time to devote to the temples, and now I explain why.

The main core of the temples is located around Angkor Wat , just 6 km from Siem Reap, and can very well be shot by bike as we did. This also adds fun to a heavy touristy day. The dawn from " Reflecting Pool " is amazing (on Maps.me you find all the directions to browse the best for the temples and don't sit to admire the dawn from the wrong water mirror, as they were Making several tourists). Then you can move between the temples of the small circuit . The most famous are Bayon and Tomba Raider with Angelina Jolie, which I've never seen and I don't think it's the masterpiece of cinema, but everywhere it is written like this).

The temples have about 1000 years (century more, century less! Depending on the khmer kings that commissioned them) and are remarkable for the grandeur (especially Angkor Wat), for bas-reliefs and sculptures (especially Bayon) and for overwhelming nature (The trees that grow on the walls of Ta Phrom and in general, all the context). Moving to the least famous temples is a good way to enjoy Angkor with less tourists. I recommend the travelers also the Temple of Preah Kahn and, in general, to visit Bayon and Ta Phrom at lunchtime, when there is a little less people. In the area of the temples it is possible to have lunch at no excessive prices if you go to the baracges, while the restaurants from Westerni cost triple than in the city.

In short, even turning a bike (5 dollars the rental of a mountain bike), in an intense day at Angkor you can visit a lot of temples of the small circuit. The second day instead is recommended to take a tuk-tuk or a car with driver to visit the most distant temples, such as Phnom Bok , where we were alone at sunset, and the really fascinating one, of Banteay Srei .

We paid $ 45 for a taxi day and the driver also took us to some temple on the road that I don't remember and Kbal Spean , the river of the Thousand Linga , Where you do a nice walk in the wild nature, but these linga (bas-reliefs in the rock) are not 1000 and they are not even nothing that, and even the river is not a river in the dry season.

Spending three days among the temples of Angkor makes sense in the following cases:
- You want to turn only for a few hours a day;
- See more Temples possible is your strange purpose in life;
- You don't really have Nothing to do.

Don't misunderstand me: the temples are very fascinating, I would say almost flaredly beautiful. But spend so many days becomes a hyperturistic way to take photos "Duty" which then actually once returned to home will all be the same. On the other hand, we liked it a lot to adventure to look for hidden angles and take stupid photos around. So here is the (mine) conclusion: if you like to travel and you don't have infinite time, two days is the right time to devote to the temples of Angkor. Then it is better to dedicate yourself to the most rustic and less tourist parts of Cambodia.

From Siem Reap we then took a bus to Trat, Thailand. The coach broke next to a herd of buffalo that rolled into the mud and the border post of Popet is a shoring place full of casinos, but in the end so we left Cambodia ... A country that fascinated us very much, and of which the area of Kratie and Kampong Cham is the one we recommend more than any other.
Ah, Cambodia also has long coasts and some fascinating islands. But we went to enjoy the sea immediately over border, at Koh Kood, who is amazing, as you can read here ! Koh Kood is one of Thailand's most beautiful islands, a few kilometers from the border with Rustica Cambodia.

If you like these wild trips or if you want to find more photos of this and other destinations, as well as advice and new itineraries, visit our FB page and put like:

Click here to access All travel diaries .