Phnom Penh – Siem Reap Tour - 8 Days

General Information

Duration: 8 Days/ 7 Nights
Start/ End: Phnom Penh / Siem Reap
Tour Route: Phnom Penh - Siem Reap
Tour Type: Explore & Experience
Tour Customizable: Definitely! (Tell us your specific requirements in the inquiry form)
Guides: Local Guide (English or other Languages upon your Request)
Transportation: Private first-class vehicles with air-condition
Accommodation: Upon Request

Day 01 Phnom Penh Arrival

Welcome to Phnom Penh! Your tour begins when you are warmly welcomed by our English Speaking Guide at Phnom Penh International Airport. After you have collected your luggage he will then take you to your hotel for check in. Stay overnight at your selected hotel in Phnom Penh.

Day 02 Phnom Penh - Exploration (B)

After breakfast, you will visit the impressive colorful Khmer-style Royal Palace complex build in 1866 by the Predecessors of King Norodom. Nearby is Silver pagoda (the emerald Buddha temple), where contain plenty of Buddha Statues decorated and made by gold, diamond, gemstone and silver.

We will stop at Independence monument and explore the National museum; a beautiful Khmer architecture building contains more than 5000 art antiques made by bronze, wood, gold, silver, copper, sandstone and others.

 

We pass through the river-front park where 4 rivers met at a junction include mystical Mekong. This afternoon Visit the Independence Monument. We visit the Royal University of Fine Arts where the young Cambodians learn the ancient arts of their ancestors. The most interesting part of this structure is the Dance Academy. Here, many young children practice the graceful movements of the beautiful national dances.

Walk up to sacred hill Phnom Daun Penh – also the name of a pagoda and name of the capital nowadays. Then we stop at Central Market, a large market constructed in 1937 in the shape of a dome with four arms branching out into vast hallways with countless stalls of goods. Initial design and layouts are from French architect Louis Chauchon. Stay overnight at your selected hotel in Phnom Penh.

Day 03 Phnom Penh - Exploration (B)

Breakfast at hotel, in the morning we visit Choeung Ek Museum, where between 1975 and 1978 about 17,000 men, women, children and infants detained and tortured at S-21 were transported for the extermination.

We continue to TuolSleng prison now is Genocide Museum, the most secret part of the Khmer Rouge regime. It’s also called S-21 (abbreviated for Security Office 21), a Khmer Rouge's premier security camp, specifically designed for the interrogation and extermination of anti-Angkor elements. Leave the relics of the bad history of Cambodia we will have lunch at local restaurant before go shopping around Russian market, enjoy the bustling daily activities of the locals.

Last we will take a cruise to see the sunset on the Mekong and Tonle Sap River in the “Four Arms” section where the Mekong meets the Tonle Sap River before splitting into two branches. Stay overnight at your selected hotel in Phnom Penh

Day 04 Phnom Penh - Siem Reap (B) By Private Car No Guide

After breakfast at hotel, our driver will transfer you without guide to Siem Reap. On arrival, transfer to your hotel for check-in. Free for the rest of the day for you to discover the real Cambodia on your own. Stay overnight at your selected hotel in Siem Reap

Day 05 Siem Reap - Exploration (B)

After breakfast, enjoy a full day excursion to discover Angkor Thom and Temples. Firstly, you will visit the wonderful Angkor Thom (the Great City) including the Southern Gate, famous Bayon temple (12th century in the center of city remains one the most enigmatic temples of the Angkor group composed of 54 gothic towers decorated with 216 smiling faces of Avalokitesvara. Baphuon temple lying just to the north of Bayon a pyramidal representation of mythical Mont Meru. Terrace of Elephants used as a giant reviewing stand for public ceremonies and served as a base for the king’s grand audience hall ; Terrace of the Leper King a platform 7m high, with statue.

Afternoon, it is time to visit the wonderful Angkor Wat Temples – one of the seven greatest architectural wonders of the world, as a temple and mausoleum for King Suryavarman II at the peak of the Khmer empire in the first half of 12th. Angkor Wat is probably the best-preserved of the Angkorean temples, with a central tower surrounded by four smaller towers. The central monument represents the mythical Mount Meru, the holy mountain at the center of the universe, which was home to the Hindu God Vishnu. The whole complex covers 81 hectares, a rectangular wall measuring 1025 meters by 800 meters borders the inner edge of the moat, and temple's greatest sculptural treasure is its 2 km-long bas-reliefs around the walls. In the late afternoon, visit to the Phnom Bakheng temple, is the first temple in Angkor region build by the Yacovarman I King in the first of 9th century, located on a slope gently hill where thousands tourist are grouping on the hilltop to catch a memorable time of life when viewing the marvelous sunset, the distant Angkor Wat in the jungle.

Evening is your free time for walking at busy pub street. Pop up at a bar for cool drink or shopping at Angkor Night Market.
Stay overnight at your selected hotel in Siem Reap.

Day 06 Siem Reap - Exploration (B)

In the morning, visit to Ta Prohm. One of the area’s most beautiful temples, Ta Prohm has been left relatively untouched since it was discovered and retains much of its mystery. Its appeal lies in the fact that, unlike the other monuments of Angkor, it was abandoned and swallowed by the jungle, looking very much the ways most of the Angkor temples appeared when European explorers first stumbled upon them. PrasatKravan, SrahSrang ("The Royal Baths" was once used for ritual bathing), BanteayKdei (surrounded by 4 concentric walls), Visit as well Takeo. Visit Thommanon, tractive temple in very good condition, built at the same time as Angkor Wat. It’s Angkor Wat style is most easily seen in the style of the carved Apsaras and the shape of the tower, ChaosayTevoda, it seems to stand in partnership with Thommanon but actually was built much later in SuryavarmanII’srule.

In the afternoon, Visit Preah Khan temple. Built by the King Jayavarman VII, Preah Khan is, like Ta Prohm, a place of towered enclosures and shoulder-hugging corridors. Unlike Ta Prohm, however, Preah Khan is in a reasonable state of preservation and ongoing restoration efforts should maintain and even improve this situation. Visit the unique brick sculptures of PrasatKravan, Continue your visit to NeakPean, a fountain (built in the middle of a pool and representing the paradisiacal Himalayan mountain-lake), Ta Som, Eastern Mebon, guarded at its corner by stone figures of harnessed elephants, some of which are still in a reasonable state of preservation, and Pre Rup, the mountain-temple until sunset. Stay overnight at your selected hotel in Siem Reap.

Day 07 Siem Reap - Exploration (B)

After breakfast at hotel, we travel through the traditional village of Preah Dark to the 12th century temple of BanteaySamre. Built by King Suryavarman II, the genius behind Angkor Wat, this temple has been extensively restored. The temple is unique in that over-quarrying of sandstone led to the use of laterite for the roofed corridors. The pediments above the inner doors here include some of the most accomplished carving from the Angkor period. We continue further north to BanteaySrei, Angkor’s ultimate art gallery. This petite pink temple is the jewel in the crown of Angkor-era sculpture. The elaborate carvings here are the finest found in Cambodia and the name translates as ‘Fortress of the Women’, thanks to the intricate detail here, considered too fine for the hands of a man. Originally believed to date from the latter part of the Angkor period, inscriptions at the site suggest it was built by a Brahman in 967. However, some architectural historians have suggested that the inscriptions may date from an earlier structure on this site and the temple is in fact later, marking a high-water mark in Khmer sculpture.

We embark and enjoy a boat ride on the Tonle Sap lake. This is the largest permanent fresh-water lake in South East Asia and flows into Tonle Sap River, joining the Mekong in Phnom Penh. We will see a fishermen's "floating village" with floating schools, floating police station, etc. It is same as a big village floating on the lake, and the "village" move from place to place following water levels and current.

Visit “Les Artisans d’Angkor - ChantiersEcoles”, this center is working with young artisans; the team creates, produce and market a unique collection of ornamental sculpture, lacquer ware, silk weaving and silk painting. The company promotes fair, sustainable development in order to provide benefits to the rural communities. Spend time at leisure at a local market for shopping (if time permits). Stay overnight at your selected hotel in Siem Reap

Day 08 Siem Reap - Departure (B)

Your final day starts with breakfast at the hotel followed by check-out. You will then be transferred to the airport for your final departure.