Discover Cambodia In Depth – 14 Days

Visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former school that the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison and interrogation centre, where some 20,000 people were held. Then drive out to Choeung Ek, the site of the Killing Fields, where a memorial stupa holds thousands of skulls recovered from the mass graves. It is a sobering morning, made all the more moving by how peaceful the setting is today.

In the afternoon, you may like to visit the Royal Palace. The king’s private quarters are closed to the public, but you can walk through the gardens and throne hall and step inside the Silver Pagoda, the most sacred temple in the country, its floor laid with solid silver tiles.

End the day gently at a cafe on the riverfront.

Leave Phnom Penh by private car for the drive of five to six hours to Battambang, through rice fields, palm groves and small market towns.

Battambang is a relaxed riverside town of French colonial shophouses and friendly people, its streets dotted with statues of animals and deities. With far less traffic than Phnom Penh and far fewer visitors than Siem Reap, it offers a real slice of everyday Cambodia.

Walk along the riverfront, where local people gather in the evening for aerobics, yoga and folk dancing.

Set off on a half-day bike ride along quiet lanes through villages and rice fields. Stop at small family workshops to watch rice paper, noodles and prahok, Cambodia’s famous fermented fish paste, being made the traditional way.

The afternoon is yours. You might watch young performers rehearse at the local circus and music school, see artists at work in its visual arts studios, or take a ride on the bamboo train, a simple bamboo platform on wheels that once carried villagers along the old railway line and is found only in Battambang.

Board your private boat for a journey of around seven hours along the Sangker River and across the Tonle Sap Lake. Watch the riverbanks drift by, with fishermen casting their nets and whole villages of houses floating on the water.

Arrive in Siem Reap, the gateway to Angkor and one of the best-loved destinations in Southeast Asia. Take a walk to get your bearings, and be sure to visit the Old Market, a riot of colour with its silks, cottons, sarongs, silver and statues.

Try fish amok, Cambodia’s signature curry steamed in banana leaves. Shadow puppetry has a long tradition here, and with a little luck you may catch a show at a local restaurant.

Start at Angkor Wat, the largest and best-preserved temple of all, and unusual in facing west, the direction associated with death and Vishnu. Walk its long galleries of bas-reliefs and climb towards the towers at its centre.

Enter Angkor Thom, the Great Royal City, and its centrepiece, the Bayon, where more than two hundred serene stone faces smile down from dozens of towers. Then visit Ta Prohm, where giant trees have taken root in the walls and their roots pour over the stone. Time allowing, walk along the Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King.

End the day watching the sunset over the temples, as the stone turns gold in the last of the light.

Get to the heart of Cambodia through its food. At a cooking class in a village setting, learn to prepare three Khmer dishes with fresh local ingredients, catch a glimpse of rural life and, best of all, sit down to eat what you have made for lunch.

Head into the forest within the Angkor park for the zipline course, flying between the treetops on a series of lines and platforms high above the forest floor.

Travel by private car to Sambor Prei Kuk, a drive of around three and a half hours through the countryside.

Your local guide walks you through the village, introduces your hosts and shows you how people here live and work. Nearby lie the temple ruins of Sambor Prei Kuk, some of the oldest in the country and dating back to the 7th century, when this was the capital of the Chenla kingdom. Their brick towers, half-swallowed by the forest, are well worth a visit if you wish.

Relax with your host family over a traditional Khmer dinner.

Say goodbye to your hosts and travel by private car to Kampot, a journey of around seven hours.

Kampot sits on a slow river beneath the Bokor mountains. During the French era its pepper was prized in the finest restaurants of Paris, and today the region is also known for its durian, a spiky, pungent fruit that people either adore or cannot stand. Try it if you dare.

Stroll along the river past French colonial shophouses, or take a coffee on a riverside veranda with views of the mountains. A traditional massage by a blind therapist is a lovely way to end the day, and supports a local charity that helps blind Cambodians earn a living with dignity.

Visit a pepper farm and learn why Kampot pepper is so prized by chefs around the world. Continue to the salt fields, where salt is still harvested by hand from shallow pans by the sea.

Walk through the rice fields and climb to the mouth of Phnom Chhnork, a limestone cave sheltering a small brick temple from the 7th century. Along the way, stop in villages to chat with local people and see their daily life up close.

Finish in Kep, from the early 1900s until the 1960s the most fashionable seaside resort in Cambodia. Many of its grand villas were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge years, and their ghostly shells still stand along the shore.

Drive for around two hours to Sihanoukville, the coastal city named after the late King Sihanouk.

Take a speedboat of around 45 minutes to your chosen island, Koh Rong or Koh Rong Samloem. Check in to your resort and settle in to island life.

Spend the day exactly as you like: swim in the warm, clear water, walk the length of a quiet beach or explore the island at your own pace.

Stretch out on the sand, read in the shade of the palms and, as the day ends, watch the sun sink into the Gulf of Thailand.

Enjoy a last breakfast by the sea before the speedboat back to the mainland.

Depending on your onward plans, fly from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap or travel back by road to Phnom Penh for your journey home.