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Passage through Cambodia

Route: Phnom Penh - Tuol Sleng Museum - Killing Fields - Siem Reap - Angkor Wat - (optional via Battambang - Trat) - Bangkok

In Cambodia you'll find untainted Asia, with endless green rice paddies and open, honest people. The temples, palaces and tombs of the Khmers are a few of the world's most miraculous structures. Siem Reap and Phnom Penh are typical Asian cities with an abundance of Eastern allure and a tumultuous past.

This Cambodia to Thailand trip will take you straight through Cambodia in seven days. You'll experience a country that has risen like a phoenix from the flames of a turbulent past. You'll travel by bus and speedboat and sleep in cosy hotels.

Interested? You can build your own Cambodia and Indochina holiday using our wider range of bite-sized Cambodia trips. Alternatively, if you're in need of a little inspiration, you can choose from our selection of suggested Cambodia holidays.

Duration	Option 1: 6 days / 5 nights Departs Tuesdays & Fridays. Option 2: 7 days / 6 nights Departs daily	Accommodation	Basic accommodation in small towns and standard hotels in larger cities (see our photos, and for further info, check out our accommodation page).
Price	Option 1: £386 per person - based on 2 people Option 2: £445 per person - based on 2 people	Includes	All transport mentioned in the daily itinerary, accommodation with breakfast, guides
Transport	Minibus, air-conditioned car and hydrofoil	Excludes	Other meals and drinks, entrance fees to Angkor Temples

Day 1: Phnom Penh - No Activities Planned

It's the beginning of your travels from Cambodia to Thailand and if you're flying into Cambodia, one of our representatives will be waiting to pick you up at Phnom Penh airport. Alternatively, you may arrive in Phnom Penh by boat. At the jetty, you'll find scores of rickshaw drivers waiting to take you to your hotel for just $1, so it's far better to arrange this on the spot. The rest of the day is free for you to relax, freshen up, wander around or chill out with an Angkor Beer.

Phnom Penh is a very interesting city with lots of historic colonial buildings and a great atmosphere. It’s fairly modern with paved roads, modern shops, a beautiful boulevard and many cash machines.

Phnom Penh actually means the hill (Phnom) of Penh. Legend has it that a woman named Penh found four Buddha statues that had been washed up by the Mekong river, and placed these statues in a small shrine. This shrine still exists in what is now the Wat Phnom. In the afternoon, you can climb the hill to the Cambodian temple. Market stalls now line the hill and little monkeys run amok. You’ll be staying in a small, comfortable hotel in Phnom Penh.

Day 2: Tuol Sleng Museum and Killing Fields

On the second day of your trip from Cambodia to Thailand, you'll visit Phnom Penh's major attractions with your guide. You'll visit the Silver Pagoda and the National Palace but you'll also see the haunting remnants of the Pol Pot regime at the Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields. In 1975, Pol Pot made a very cruel and bloody attempt to turn Cambodia into a communist agricultural state. Currency, education, religion and private property were abolished.

The Tuol Sleng Museum is incredibly moving. It confronts visitors quite directly with Cambodia's brutal past by means of a series of photographs. An old primary school was used as a prison for torturing political enemies during the rule of the Red Khmer. For many this was their last stop before they were taken to the mass graves of the Killing Fields, located just outside of Phnom Penh in an orchard. Over 17,000 people were killed.

The Silver Pagoda, or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, is famous for its solid silver floor, made up of 5000 silver tiles weighing over 1kg each. At the Aspara Foundation in Phnom Penh, poor Cambodian children can take singing and entertaining lessons. Opening hours permitting, your guide will take you to see this interesting project. You'll be staying another night in your small, comfortable hotel before your Cambodia to Thailand trip continues tomorrow.

Day 3: Phnom Penh - Siem Reap

Today you'll continue your journey from Cambodia to Thailand and this morning you'll travel by hydrofoil over the Tonle Sap Lake and on to Siem Reap. A car will take you to the boat pier. The trip should take about 5 hours, which is much shorter than the trip would take by road. During the trip you can sit on the roof of the boat and enjoy the view of life on the mighty lake and its banks. In some areas the lake is kilometres wide, in other areas only dozens of metres.

At times you'll enjoy a view of the wide open water and other times the banks will be lined with houses and people. You'll see villages on stilts, floating islands, boats, rafts, cormorants, playing children and pigs in floating cages. On arrival in Siem Reap, your guide will be waiting for you, carrying a sign with your name on it, and he,ll take you to your hotel. The hotel is located in the centre of town, with spacious air conditioned rooms and has a friendly staff.

Day 4: Angkor - Guided tour

Today you will visit part of the Angkor temple complex with your guide- this is sure to be a real highlight of your Cambodia to Thailand tour. You need a couple of days to cover the Angkor complex as the dozens of temples are scattered across an area over 25 square km. You could wander through the temples, statues and ruins forever but be sure to stay on the paths, as there are lots of mines in this area!

The Angkor temples date from different periods as each ruler built his own temple, which gives each one a unique character. Angkor Wat, has strong Hindu influence, whereas Angkor Thom is more Buddhist. After a day of temples and culture, you’ll spend another night at your hotel in Siem Reap.

Day 5: Angkor - Independent visit

It's the fifth day of your Cambodia to Thailand adventure and today you can spend another day exploring Angkor on your own. Angkor is the name of the ancient capital of the Khmer empire which was founded in the 8th century AD. The empire stretched all the way to southern Vietnam and China. Later it was the Siamese empire of the Thai that ruled the area and brought many Buddhist influences to the region.

Siem Reap literally means ‘conquest by Siam’ so it’s rather noble of the Khmer to have kept the name to this day. The temples were once surrounded by a thriving city filled with wooden houses. Sadly they’re long gone but the temples themselves are magnificent enough. For centuries the city was overgrown by jungle until the ruins were discovered by French explorers in 1900. Several of these Cambodian temples have been restored but others are still overgrown. At the Ta Prohm temple for example you can see how the jungle still has a hold on the buildings. Giant trees tower over them and the roots have wrapped themselves around the temple walls. It’s a strange but impressive sight. You’ll spend another night in Siem Reap before your Cambodia to Thailand trip continues tomorrow.

OPTION 1

Day 6: Siem Reap - Bangkok - End of tour

The quickest way to get to Bangkok is by our own Siem Reap – Bangkok express. You’ll be picked up at your hotel in Siem Reap in the morning and transferred to the Cambodian border. After 5 hours, you’ll arrive in the little town of Poipet where you can collect the necessary stamps and cross the border on foot. Here you’ll find your new Thai driver waiting to take you to Bangkok by minibus. It’s another 5 hour drive through beautiful green countryside and small rural villages. You’ll arrive in Bangkok during late afternoon, marking the end of this holiday from Cambodia to Thailand. From here, you can continue your trip with one of our Thailand tours, or take a taxi back to the airport to catch your flight back home.

OPTION 2

Day 6: Siem Reap - Battambang

Sometime during the morning you'll be picked up at your hotel and taken to the pier just outside of Siem Reap. Here you'll board a boat to Battambang, the next destination on this tour from Cambodia to Thailand. You'll travel through small waterways and later on travel across the mighty Tonle Sap Lake. At the end of the afternoon you'll arrive in Battambang.

Here you'll be able to go for a ride on a bamboo train, which is nothing more than a bamboo raft and a carriage that has been placed on a train track. It's a traditional means of transport for this area. The train trip will take you through rice fields and give you a glimpse of rural life in Cambodia. Battambang is a provincial city with a lively market where people come from all around to stock up on ingredients for their meals. You'll spend the night in a comfortable but basic hotel opposite the local market.

Day 7: Battambang - Trat - End of tour

If you opt for this version of our Cambodia to Thailand tour, you'll head out of Battambang for the Thai border early this morning. You'll travel by private car as the roads in this area are quite poor. After a bumpy 3 hour drive you'll reach the border. Once you've collected your exit stamp for your passport, you can take one last look at Cambodia over your shoulder and cross the border by foot. You'll be amazed to see that the border is nothing more than two small offices across from each other and a gate between them.

On the Thai side of the border another driver will be waiting to take you to Trat. The difference between Cambodia and Thailand will be noticeable immediately. The sandy road will transform into a paved road, making the trip to Trat much more enjoyable. Your driver will take you to the Trat bus station where you can catch a bus to Bangkok. It's best to purchase your own bus ticket here - your driver will help you with this. Eventually you'll arrive in Bangkok at the end of the day, and this is where your journey from Cambodia to Thailand ends.

Alternatively, your driver can drop you off at the ferry port in Trat where you can hop on a ferry to Ko Chang.

What next...?

Once this trip from Cambodia to Thailand is over, you can either hop on your international flight back home or extend your trip with a couple of our Thailand tours.

Instead of taking the bus back to Bangkok, you could get a taste of island life on tropical Ko Chang, and spend a couple of days swinging in a hammock on the beach. For more information, take a look at our Ko Chang island tour.