Thailand and Cambodia: Bangkok to Angkor via Battambang

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Bangkok

   Suvarnabhumi Airport to your hotel near the Chao Phraya River

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

   We meet you at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), or at Don Mueang (DMK) if you fly in on a regional carrier, and drive you to a central hotel close to the Chao Phraya River and the old royal quarter. Depending on traffic the drive takes 45 minutes to more than an hour. The afternoon is yours: sleep off the flight, swim, or take the public river boat a few stops to see the city from the water. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the ten days ahead. It covers how the pace works, what to wear for the palace and the temples, and how day 4 works: a short flight into Cambodia while the land border stays closed, and the Cambodian e-Visa we ask you to get before you leave home. Then we walk to a welcome dinner of Thai dishes, perhaps green curry, som tam papaya salad and a whole fried fish, at a restaurant near the river.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) or Don Mueang Airport (DMK)
   • Welcome briefing, including the day 4 flight and the Cambodian e-Visa
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Afternoon free to rest before the briefing

   Activité : If your flight lands too late for dinner, your guide briefs you at breakfast.

2. Jour 2 : The Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Chinatown

   The Grand Palace at opening, Wat Pho, the canals of Thonburi, then Yaowarat

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Bangkok
   Détail du jour 2

   We are at the gates of the Grand Palace when they open at 8:30, ahead of most tour coaches. It has been the ceremonial seat of the Thai kings since 1782, and within its walls Wat Phra Kaew keeps the Emerald Buddha, a small figure of green stone that is the most revered image in the country. A short walk south, Wat Pho holds the Reclining Buddha, 46 metres long, with mother of pearl inlaid on the soles of its feet. From the pier behind Wat Pho we cross the river to climb the steep porcelain-covered tower of Wat Arun, then board a longtail boat into the canals of Thonburi, past wooden houses on stilts and small temples. The middle of the day and the afternoon are free, for lunch where you like, a Thai massage or the hotel pool. After dark we walk the stalls of Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown, for a street food dinner with your guide.

   Compris

   • Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew at opening
   • Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha
   • Cross-river ferry to Wat Arun
   • Longtail boat through the Thonburi canals
   • Street food dinner in Yaowarat (Chinatown) with your guide

   Option plus facile : Skip the climb at Wat Arun and see it from the riverside terrace.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

   Activité : The Grand Palace checks dress at the gate: shoulders covered and legs covered below the knee, no sleeveless tops or ripped trousers.

3. Jour 3 : A day in Ayutthaya

   Bangkok to Ayutthaya and back to Bangkok

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Bangkok
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave at about 7:30 am, earlier than our usual 8 am, to reach Ayutthaya, about 80 km north, as the temple grounds open and before the heat and the day-trip coaches from Bangkok arrive. Ayutthaya was the capital of Siam from 1351 until the Burmese army sacked it in 1767, and its ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We walk Wat Mahathat, where a stone Buddha head sits in the roots of a fig tree, the three bell-shaped chedis of Wat Phra Si Sanphet, and Wat Chaiwatthanaram on the riverbank. Lunch is river prawns and Thai dishes by the water. The drive is about an hour and a quarter each way, so we are back at the same hotel in Bangkok by mid-afternoon, with the rest of the day and the evening free. Pack light for tomorrow: the flight into Cambodia has a checked-bag limit. When the land border reopens, this day ends instead in Aranyaprathet, ready to cross at opening.

   Compris

   • Ayutthaya Historical Park with your guide: Wat Mahathat, Wat Phra Si Sanphet and Wat Chaiwatthanaram
   • Lunch by the river in Ayutthaya

   Option plus facile : Ride between the Ayutthaya temples in the vehicle instead of walking.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free

   Activité : If the land border has reopened by your departure, we drive on from Ayutthaya to Aranyaprathet (about 4.75 hours of driving in the day, with lunch and a coffee stop) and sleep by the border; we tell you before you travel.

4. Jour 4 : Into Cambodia and on to Battambang

   Bangkok to Siem Reap by air, then Battambang via Sisophon

   • Environ 4.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Battambang
   Détail du jour 4

   While the Aranyaprathet to Poipet crossing stays closed to travellers, this is how we reach Cambodia. We leave the hotel in time for a morning flight of about an hour from Bangkok to Siem Reap-Angkor International (SAI); depending on the schedule that can mean a start before 8 am, which we confirm at the briefing. Your guide flies with you. At SAI you show your e-Visa, or buy a visa on arrival, and have your fingerprints taken, and our Cambodian vehicle and a local guide are waiting outside. Battambang has no regular passenger flights, so we drive: about an hour into Siem Reap for lunch, then about three and a half hours west through Sisophon. That is about 4.5 hours on the road, over our cap of about four, because the closed border leaves no shorter way in; lunch and a coffee stop split it into two legs. We reach Battambang in the late afternoon for a walk along the Sangker River, past French-era shophouses and Psar Nat, the central market. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap with your guide
   • Drive from Siem Reap-Angkor Airport to Battambang with your guide
   • Lunch in Siem Reap
   • Late-afternoon riverside walk past Psar Nat market

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : If the land border has reopened, we cross on foot at Poipet at opening instead, with porters for your bags and a vehicle waiting, and drive about two hours to Battambang. Cambodian e-Visa and the e-Arrival form must be done before you leave home.

5. Jour 5 : Battambang's villages, the bamboo train and the bats

   Battambang to village workshops and Phnom Banan, then Phnom Sampov at dusk

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Battambang
   Détail du jour 5

   We set out early while it is cool, by bicycle or by tuk-tuk, on quiet roads through the villages outside town. We stop where families make rice paper, dry bananas in the sun and roast kralan, sticky rice with coconut and beans packed into bamboo tubes. The original bamboo train, a platform of planks on two axles that locals ran on the old French railway, stopped when the line was rebuilt in 2017; a version now runs on a short track of its own near Phnom Banan, and we ride it there. Then we climb the steps to Prasat Banan, an 11th-century hilltop temple with five towers and a wide view over the rice fields. Lunch is home-style Khmer food in the countryside, and the hot middle of the day is free in town. At dusk we drive to Phnom Sampov to watch a stream of bats pour out of a cave on the hillside, a sight that lasts the best part of an hour.

   Compris

   • Morning village ride by bicycle or tuk-tuk, with rice paper, dried banana and kralan makers
   • The bamboo train near Phnom Banan
   • Prasat Banan hilltop temple
   • Lunch in the countryside
   • The bats of Phnom Sampov at dusk

   Option plus facile : Ride the village loop by tuk-tuk, and wait at the foot of Prasat Banan's steps.

   Option plus active : A longer morning bike loop of about 25 km with a local guide, rejoining the group at the bamboo train.

   Temps libre : Middle of the day and evening free

   Activité : Phnom Sampov also holds the Killing Caves, a Khmer Rouge memorial; we go up only if the group wants to, and the bats are watched from the road below. About 350 steps up to Prasat Banan.

6. Jour 6 : To Siem Reap and sunset at Pre Rup

   Battambang to Siem Reap via Sisophon, then Pre Rup

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Siem Reap
   Détail du jour 6

   After a slow breakfast we leave Battambang at about 9 am for Siem Reap, about 175 km back along the Sisophon road through flat rice country, the road we came in on, around three and a half hours with a coffee stop. We arrive for lunch, then check in to a central hotel near the Old Market, your base for the next four nights, so there is no more packing until you go home. The afternoon is free: swim, rest, or walk through the shaded Royal Independence Gardens past the Royal Residence to the riverside shrines. Late in the afternoon we drive to the Angkor ticket office, where your three-day pass is printed with your photo. A pass bought late in the afternoon also lets you in for that evening's sunset, so we watch it from the top of Pre Rup, a 10th-century temple-mountain of brick and laterite, with the sun going down over rice fields and sugar palms and far fewer people than at Phnom Bakheng. Dinner tonight is on your own.

   Compris

   • Drive from Battambang to Siem Reap with your guide
   • Lunch on arrival in Siem Reap
   • Three-day Angkor pass
   • Sunset at Pre Rup with your guide

   Option plus facile : Watch the sunset from the foot of Pre Rup instead of climbing its steep steps.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free

   

7. Jour 7 : Angkor Wat at sunrise and Ta Prohm

   Angkor Wat at dawn, then Ta Prohm

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Siem Reap
   Détail du jour 7

   The first of three Angkor mornings, and the one early start that matters. We leave at about 4:45 am and walk the causeway to the pools in front of Angkor Wat as its five towers come out against the sky. Built in the first half of the 12th century under King Suryavarman II, it is the largest temple at Angkor, and the whole park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992. When most of the sunrise crowd goes back to town for breakfast, we eat ours, packed by the hotel, and go in with a licensed Angkor guide: along the carved galleries, past the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, and up the steep stair to the central towers when it is open. Then 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, and the afternoon is free. In the evening we go to Phare, the Cambodian Circus.

   Compris

   • Sunrise at Angkor Wat
   • Angkor Wat with a licensed Angkor guide, including the upper level when open
   • Ta Prohm
   • Lunch near the park
   • Phare, the Cambodian Circus

   Option plus facile : Sleep in and join the group at Angkor Wat at about 7:30 am, when the sunrise crowd leaves.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

   Activité : The upper level of Angkor Wat is reached by a steep stair with a handrail and closes on some Buddhist holy days; shoulders and knees must be covered.

   

8. Jour 8 : Banteay Srei and a Khmer cooking class

   Siem Reap to Banteay Srei and Banteay Samre, then a cooking class

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Siem Reap
   Détail du jour 8

   The second Angkor morning goes further out. We leave at about 7:30 am, earlier than our usual 8 am, for Banteay Srei, about 35 km north-east, because by mid-morning the tour buses fill its small courtyards. Consecrated in 967, it is small and built of pink sandstone carved so deeply and finely that the lintels look like wood. On the way back we stop at Banteay Samre, a 12th-century temple in the style of Angkor Wat that few groups visit, with its courtyards often empty. Back near Siem Reap we spend the late morning with a Khmer cook: a walk through a local market for lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime and prahok, then a class where you make fish amok steamed in banana leaf, a green mango salad and a sweet of sticky rice and coconut, and eat them for lunch. The afternoon and evening are free, for the Angkor National Museum, a massage, the pool or the shops and bars around the Old Market.

   Compris

   • Banteay Srei ahead of the tour buses, with your Angkor guide
   • Banteay Samre
   • Market walk and Khmer cooking class, with lunch

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free

   

9. Jour 9 : Angkor Thom and a sunset on the Tonle Sap

   Angkor Thom and Preah Khan, then Kampong Phluk on the Tonle Sap

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Siem Reap
   Détail du jour 9

   The third morning is Angkor Thom, the walled royal city of King Jayavarman VII. We go in through the South Gate, lined with stone gods and demons holding a giant serpent, at about 7:30 am, earlier than our usual 8 am because the Bayon is quietest in the first hours, and reach it while the light still falls across its more than 200 carved stone faces. Then the Baphuon, the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King, and finally Preah Khan, a temple of long corridors and trees, built in 1191. After lunch near the park the middle of the day is free. At about 3:30 pm we drive south-east to Kampong Phluk, a village of tall stilt houses on the edge of the Tonle Sap, the largest lake in Southeast Asia. We go with an operator that works with the village and pays its community fee. From the stilt houses, people from the village paddle us in small canoes through the flooded forest, then a boat takes us out to watch the sun set over the lake. Farewell dinner back in Siem Reap.

   Compris

   • Angkor Thom: the South Gate, the Bayon, the Baphuon and the royal terraces
   • Preah Khan
   • Lunch near the park
   • 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

   Option plus facile : Stay in the boat while others take the canoes.

   Temps libre : Middle of the day free

   Activité : In late January and February the flooded forest can be too low for the canoes; the boat then runs out to the open lake instead.

   

10. Jour 10 : Depart from Siem Reap

    Your hotel in Siem Reap to Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport

    • Environ 1 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 10

    Your last morning is free and there is no early start. Walk to the Old Market for silk scarves, carved wood and Kampot pepper, visit the Angkor National Museum to put the temples you have seen in order, or swim and pack slowly. If you have not seen enough stone, your guide can tell you which smaller temples a tuk-tuk can reach in a morning. Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI), which opened in 2023, sits about 45 to 50 km east of town, so the transfer takes 45 minutes to an hour and we time it to your flight. Hotel check-out is usually around noon; if you need your room for longer, we can book a late check-out at cost. Plan to be at the airport two to three hours before an international flight, so any flight from early afternoon onwards works well. Most flights home connect through Bangkok, Singapore or Seoul. If you would like to stay on in Siem Reap, ask us for extra nights when you book.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)

    Temps libre : Morning free

Faune et météo : November to February is the cool, dry season in both countries: mostly sunny, around 30°C by day and the low 20s at night, with fresher early mornings in December and January. It is also the busiest time at the Grand Palace and at Angkor, which is why the big sights are timed for opening. The Tonle Sap is high from the rains in November and falls through February; if the flooded forest at Kampong Phluk is too low for the canoes, the boat runs out to the open lake. March to May is very hot, and the rains run from about June to October.

• Bangkok3 nuits
• Battambang2 nuits
• Siem Reap4 nuits