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Bird Watching & Waterways Escape – 4 Days

Tonle Sap 13
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The Heart of This Journey

Four days on Cambodia’s waterways and back roads, far from the temple crowds. The journey crosses the Tonle Sap Lake from Siem Reap to a floating village for a night with a local family, follows the Sangker River by boat to the colonial town of Battambang, and explores its pagodas, workshops and countryside before you head on to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh.

  • Across the Tonle SapA private boat through the flooded forest of Southeast Asia’s largest lake.
  • A night in a floating villageFresh fish cooked by villagers, a paddle boat tour and sunset over the water.
  • Birds at sunriseEarly morning birdwatching around Prek Toal, one of the region’s great waterbird habitats.
  • Up the Sangker RiverA day by boat to Battambang, with a picnic on board and a stop at a riverside pagoda.
  • Battambang’s countrysideRice paper makers, Wat Ek Phnom, a ride on the bamboo train and sunset at Phnom Banan.
  • Phare Ponleu SelpakA celebrated arts school where young Cambodians train in circus, music and visual arts.

Tour Destinations:

Detailed Itinerary:

Here is how the four days unfold, from a boat ride across the Tonle Sap to a morning with the young artists of Battambang. Every part of it can be adjusted: add a night where you want to linger, swap an activity or change your hotel class, and we will shape the plan around you.

Day 01:Siem Reap – Boat Trip to Prek Toal

Leave the temples behind for the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, and a night in a village that floats on its waters.

Morning

Your guide collects you from your hotel in Siem Reap for the short drive to a fishing village on the shore of the lake. Board a private boat and travel for an hour or so across the open water and through the flooded forest, as your guide explains how the lake’s rise and fall shapes the plants, birds and fish that live here.

Midday

Arrive in the floating village of Prek Toal and sit down to a lunch of freshly caught fish, cooked by the villagers.

Afternoon

Set off on a paddle boat tour run by the community, gliding between houses, shops and even schools that float on the water. See how families farm fish and crocodiles, prepare their nets, use traditional medicine and honour the spirits at their little spirit houses. Then relax at your homestay and watch village life go by.

Evening

Watch the sun set over the lake before dinner cooked by your hosts.

Good to know: the homestay is simple, with basic shared facilities, and is a genuine way to experience life on the lake.

Meals: Lunch, Dinner. Accommodation: Homestay in Prek Toal.

Day 02:Prek Toal – Boat Trip to Battambang

A sunrise among the waterbirds, then a long, lazy day on the river to Battambang.

Early morning

Rise with the sun to watch the birds of the flooded forest, from storks and pelicans to cormorants, as they head out to feed, then return to the homestay for breakfast.

Morning

Board your boat for the journey up the Sangker River towards Battambang. Stop at Cheur Khmao, the Black Wood Pagoda, and watch unspoilt landscapes and scenes of everyday river life drift by: children waving from stilt houses, fishermen casting their nets and buffalo cooling off in the shallows.

Midday

A picnic lunch is served on board as you travel.

Afternoon

Arrive at Battambang port and transfer to your hotel. Later, stroll through the town, Cambodia’s second city, to admire its well-preserved French colonial shophouses and villas.

Evening

Dinner is at a local restaurant.

Good to know: the boat journey from Prek Toal to Battambang depends on water levels and usually runs only in the wet season and the months after it. At other times, the route is adapted.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Accommodation: Hotel in Battambang.

Day 03:Battambang Discovery

A day in the countryside around Battambang, from riverside pagodas and village workshops to a hilltop temple at sunset.

Morning

Drive along the picturesque Sangker River to Wat Slaket, the residence of the province’s Buddhist patriarch. Visit a traditional Khmer wooden house and watch a family making the rice paper used for spring rolls, then continue to Wat Ek Phnom, an 11th-century temple of crumbling sandstone. Call in at a market where prahok, the pungent fermented fish paste at the heart of Cambodian cooking, is made.

Midday

Lunch is served at a local restaurant.

Afternoon

Climb aboard the bamboo train, Battambang’s famous home-made rail cart, a simple bamboo platform on wheels that rattles along the tracks through the countryside.

Late afternoon

Drive to Phnom Banan, where five sandstone towers crown a hilltop. Climb the long stairway and watch the sun set over the plains below.

Evening

Dinner is at a local restaurant.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Accommodation: Hotel in Battambang.

Day 04:Battambang – Siem Reap or Phnom Penh

A morning with the young artists of Battambang, then the road to your next destination.

Morning

Visit Phare Ponleu Selpak, a much-loved arts school that supports vulnerable children and young people and teaches hundreds of students visual arts, music, circus, drama and dance, as a pastime or as a path to a career.

Departure

Afterwards, leave Battambang for the drive to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh, depending on your onward plans.

Meals: Breakfast.

Day 01:Siem Reap – Boat Trip to Prek Toal

Leave the temples behind for the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, and a night in a village that floats on its waters.

Morning

Your guide collects you from your hotel in Siem Reap for the short drive to a fishing village on the shore of the lake. Board a private boat and travel for an hour or so across the open water and through the flooded forest, as your guide explains how the lake’s rise and fall shapes the plants, birds and fish that live here.

Midday

Arrive in the floating village of Prek Toal and sit down to a lunch of freshly caught fish, cooked by the villagers.

Afternoon

Set off on a paddle boat tour run by the community, gliding between houses, shops and even schools that float on the water. See how families farm fish and crocodiles, prepare their nets, use traditional medicine and honour the spirits at their little spirit houses. Then relax at your homestay and watch village life go by.

Evening

Watch the sun set over the lake before dinner cooked by your hosts.

Good to know: the homestay is simple, with basic shared facilities, and is a genuine way to experience life on the lake.

Meals: Lunch, Dinner. Accommodation: Homestay in Prek Toal.

Day 02:Prek Toal – Boat Trip to Battambang

A sunrise among the waterbirds, then a long, lazy day on the river to Battambang.

Early morning

Rise with the sun to watch the birds of the flooded forest, from storks and pelicans to cormorants, as they head out to feed, then return to the homestay for breakfast.

Morning

Board your boat for the journey up the Sangker River towards Battambang. Stop at Cheur Khmao, the Black Wood Pagoda, and watch unspoilt landscapes and scenes of everyday river life drift by: children waving from stilt houses, fishermen casting their nets and buffalo cooling off in the shallows.

Midday

A picnic lunch is served on board as you travel.

Afternoon

Arrive at Battambang port and transfer to your hotel. Later, stroll through the town, Cambodia’s second city, to admire its well-preserved French colonial shophouses and villas.

Evening

Dinner is at a local restaurant.

Good to know: the boat journey from Prek Toal to Battambang depends on water levels and usually runs only in the wet season and the months after it. At other times, the route is adapted.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Accommodation: Hotel in Battambang.

Day 03:Battambang Discovery

A day in the countryside around Battambang, from riverside pagodas and village workshops to a hilltop temple at sunset.

Morning

Drive along the picturesque Sangker River to Wat Slaket, the residence of the province’s Buddhist patriarch. Visit a traditional Khmer wooden house and watch a family making the rice paper used for spring rolls, then continue to Wat Ek Phnom, an 11th-century temple of crumbling sandstone. Call in at a market where prahok, the pungent fermented fish paste at the heart of Cambodian cooking, is made.

Midday

Lunch is served at a local restaurant.

Afternoon

Climb aboard the bamboo train, Battambang’s famous home-made rail cart, a simple bamboo platform on wheels that rattles along the tracks through the countryside.

Late afternoon

Drive to Phnom Banan, where five sandstone towers crown a hilltop. Climb the long stairway and watch the sun set over the plains below.

Evening

Dinner is at a local restaurant.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Accommodation: Hotel in Battambang.

Day 04:Battambang – Siem Reap or Phnom Penh

A morning with the young artists of Battambang, then the road to your next destination.

Morning

Visit Phare Ponleu Selpak, a much-loved arts school that supports vulnerable children and young people and teaches hundreds of students visual arts, music, circus, drama and dance, as a pastime or as a path to a career.

Departure

Afterwards, leave Battambang for the drive to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh, depending on your onward plans.

Meals: Breakfast.

Price Included:

Accommodation with daily breakfast at selected hotels

Private tours, airport transfers as mentioned in the itinerary

Private driver and air-conditioned transportation

Locally based private English-speaking guides

All entrance fees to mentioned visits

Meals as indicated in the itinerary

Bottled water on tours.

Price Excluded:

International flights

Meals not indicated in the itinerary

Early check-in and late check-out at hotels.

Drinks & Personal expenses

Tips for guides and drivers

Personal travel insurance

Cambodia Visa fees

Video Highlights:

Indulge in a vivid, sensory panorama of our cherished destinations, carefully curated to ignite your wanderlust and craft a tantalizing prelude to your forthcoming journey!

Private, tailor-made trip
4days
3 nights
  • DepartureAny date you choose
  • 4 stopsSiem Reap · Battambang · Phnom Penh · Prek Tuol
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