Cambodia: Angkor and Siem Reap Short Break

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Siem Reap and cook Khmer food

   Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport to central Siem Reap, then the Old Market and a cooking class

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Siem Reap
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport, which opened in 2023 about 50 km east of town. A driver meets you in arrivals for the drive in, around an hour through rice fields and villages. Our hotel is central, a short walk from the Old Market and the Siem Reap river, with a pool for the heat. At about 4 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the next three days: the sunrise start, what to wear at the temples and how the hot middle of each day is kept free. Then we walk along the river past the Royal Gardens and the Royal Residence to the Old Market, where your guide shows you the ingredients of tonight's dishes, from lemongrass and kaffir lime to prahok, the fermented fish paste. At a cooking school in town you pound a kroeung spice paste and cook dishes such as fish amok and a green mango salad, and what you cook is the welcome dinner.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Riverside walk past the Royal Gardens to the Old Market
   • Khmer cooking class, with the dishes you cook as the welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the 4 pm briefing

   Activité : Plan to land by about 2 pm to make the briefing and the class; later arrivals are met, join the dinner if they can and are briefed over breakfast.

   

2. Jour 2 : Angkor Wat at sunrise, Ta Prohm and the Bayon

   Angkor ticket office to Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, then Angkor Thom and the Bayon

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Siem Reap
   Détail du jour 2

   We leave the hotel at about 4:30 am, stop at the ticket office where your three-day pass is printed with your photo, and walk across the causeway to the pools in front of Angkor Wat as its towers appear against the sky. Built in the early 12th century under Suryavarman II, it is the largest temple at Angkor. When most people head back for breakfast at about 7, we eat ours, packed by the hotel, and go in with a licensed Angkor guide along the carved galleries, the Churning of the Ocean of Milk among them. The steep upper level opens at 7:30 am and takes a limited number of visitors through a queue, so your guide orders the galleries around it; it closes on Buddhist holy days. Next is Ta Prohm, where the roots of silk-cotton and strangler fig trees grip the walls, before it is at its busiest. Lunch is at a restaurant near the park, then the hotel for a rest through the heat. At about 3 pm we return through the South Gate of Angkor Thom to the Bayon and its carved faces in late light, then the Terrace of the Elephants.

   Compris

   • Three-day Angkor pass
   • Sunrise at Angkor Wat
   • Angkor Wat with a licensed Angkor guide, and the upper level when open, subject to its queue
   • Ta Prohm
   • Lunch near the park
   • Angkor Thom in the late afternoon: the South Gate, the Bayon and the Terrace of the Elephants

   Activités en option

   • Phare, the Cambodian Circus, in the evening; your guide can book seats

   Option plus facile : Skip the sunrise and sleep in: after breakfast at the hotel, a driver takes you by the ticket office, where your pass is printed with your photo, and on to meet the group at Angkor Wat at about 8 am.

   Option plus active : In the late afternoon, walk a stretch of the Angkor Thom wall from the South Gate, about 3 km on a shaded earth path, and rejoin the group at the Bayon.

   Temps libre : Middle of the day free at the hotel; evening free

   Activité : About 4 hours on foot in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, on uneven stone. The stair to Angkor Wat's upper level is steep, needs covered shoulders and knees, closes on Buddhist holy days and does not admit children under 12.

   

3. Jour 3 : Banteay Srei, the Landmine Museum and the Tonle Sap

   Siem Reap to Banteay Srei and the Cambodian Landmine Museum, then Kampong Phluk on the Tonle Sap

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Siem Reap
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave at about 6:30 am for Banteay Srei, about 35 km north-east through villages and palm-sugar country, to arrive near its opening, ahead of the tour buses. Consecrated in 967 and dedicated to Shiva, it is small and built of pink sandstone carved so finely it looks like wood. On the way back is the Cambodian Landmine Museum, founded by Aki Ra, a former child soldier who cleared mines by hand. It tells how mines came to be laid during decades of war and how the country is still being cleared, with an honest look at the people it has cost. Lunch is at a village restaurant nearby, then the middle of the day is free at the hotel. At about 3:30 pm we drive south-east to Kampong Phluk, a village of stilt houses on the edge of the Tonle Sap, the largest lake in Southeast Asia and a UNESCO biosphere reserve. We go with an operator that works with the village and pays its community fee. People from the village paddle us in small canoes through the flooded forest, then we watch the sun set over the lake before the farewell dinner in Siem Reap.

   Compris

   • Banteay Srei near opening, with your Angkor guide
   • The Cambodian Landmine Museum
   • Lunch at a village restaurant
   • Kampong Phluk by boat, with a canoe through the flooded forest and the community fee
   • Sunset on the Tonle Sap
   • Farewell dinner in Siem Reap

   Activités en option

   • A Khmer massage in town during the free middle of the day

   Option plus facile : Skip the canoe and stay on the larger boat for the sunset.

   Temps libre : Middle of the day free at the hotel

   Activité : Little walking today. If the water in the flooded forest is too low for the canoes, which can happen by February, the boat runs out to the open lake instead.

   

4. Jour 4 : The Roluos temples and depart

   Your hotel in Siem Reap to the Roluos temples, then Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 4

   Your last morning is free. Walk to the Old Market for silk scarves and Kampot pepper, visit the Angkor National Museum to put the temples you have seen in order, or swim and pack. Your three-day pass still has a day on it, so if your flight leaves after about 1 pm, your guide takes the group to the Roluos temples on the way to the airport, about 13 km east of town: Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei, among the earliest temples of the Angkor period, built in the late 9th century when the Khmer capital stood here. Bakong, the largest of the three, is a stepped temple-mountain of sandstone. Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport is about 50 km east of town, so the transfer takes around an hour and is timed to your flight. Hotel check-out is usually around noon; if you need the room for longer, we can book a late check-out at cost. Plan to reach the airport two to three hours before an international flight. If you would like to stay on in Siem Reap, ask us for extra nights when you book.

   Compris

   • The Roluos temples on the way, for flights after about 1 pm
   • Drop-off at Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)

   Activités en option

   • Angkor National Museum

   Temps libre : Free until your airport transfer

   Activité : Any flight time works today; allow about an hour for the drive and two to three hours at the airport.

Faune et météo : November to February is the dry, cooler season: mostly sunny, around 30°C by day and the low to mid 20s at night, with fresher early mornings in December and January. It is also the busiest time at Angkor, which is why the sunrise, Ta Prohm and Banteay Srei are timed early. The Tonle Sap is still high from the rains in November and falls through February; if the flooded forest is too low for the canoes, the boat runs out to the open lake instead. March to May is very hot and June to October brings the monsoon rains.

• Siem Reap3 nuits