11-Day Cambodia Itinerary – Traveling South-East Asia

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Cambodia is a great country to travel to. For once it is really cheap, the food is nice and you will find a lot of other backpackers everywhere you go. Cambodia is also not the biggest country so you can see most of it in just a short period of time even if you are only staying for a couple of days.

The Southeast Asian country shares borders with Thailand, Vietnam and Laos which gives you the chance to easily combine a lot of different countries in just one trip.

In any way, if you are just planning to travel to this region of the world for a couple of weeks or for a three month Southeast Asia itinerary, Cambodia should definitely be included in your travel itinerary.

I spend about one and half weeks in Cambodia and now I am sharing my 11-day Cambodia Itinerary with you. Enjoy!

Cambodia has two official currencies: The US Dollar and the Cambodian Riel. However, you can only get dollars out of the ATM.

People might tell you that you are better of with Riels, which you can exchange at the borders but that is not true at all. You’ll do better sticking with dollars throughout your trip. They will sometimes charge you more when you use Riels and the currency is completely useless outside of Cambodia. This means that you can not exchange them into other currencies once you leave, so keep that in mind.

Day 1: Arrival Siem Reap

I started my trip coming from Thailand, which is why it was convenient for me to start my Cambodia trip in Siem Reap. But if you are coming from Vietnam or Phnom Penh then just read this itinerary the other way around.

Doesn’t matter how you get to Siem Reap, I always use the arrival day to kind of settle in. Either fighting off Jet leg or recovering from a long day of traveling. Maybe try getting an overview of the available tours in the area for your upcoming days.

Day 2: Siem Reap 

Siem Reap is not the biggest city, the centre of the city is the so-called Pub-street. During the day you can do some nice shopping, try out Cambodian food and discover the area. Siem Reap is also a great place for a night out if you are keen.

Or if you plan on spending more time at the ancient temples then you can also use part of this day to travel to Angkor Wat.

Day 3: Siem Reap: Angkor Wat 

This is probably the reason why you came to Siem Reap in the first place: Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the entire world. You can’t travel to Cambodia and not travel to Angkor Wat to be honest.

The temples are just a couple of kilometres out-of-town and can be reached via a Tuk Tuk. The driver will wait outside of every temple so you don’t have to worry about finding a new Tuk Tuk every time.

Day 4: Siem Reap + Night Bus to Sihanoukville

The next stop in Cambodia will be Sihanoukville. This city is located all the way in the South and is the gateway to get to the Cambodian islands.

Taking the night bus will save you a night of accommodation, the only inconvenient thing is that you will arrive pretty early in the morning. My bus left at 7:00 in the afternoon and I arrived in Sihanoukville at around 5:30 in the morning. The price is around $17 and taking a sleeping bus is definitely an experience.

Day 5: Sihanoukville

This day will be spent in Sihanoukville. It is not the most interesting city but here is a lot to do as well. The beach close to the ferry station is pretty terrible but the beaches a little outside the city are definitely worth a visit. And the best thing about Sihanoukville? There is a place close to the beach where you will find a bunch of free-living monkeys that are super cute but cheeky as well.

Just tell the Tuk Tuk driver that you want to go to the monkeys and he should know where you want to go.

Along the main street there are also a lot of cute little restaurants that you can check out. We actually got a proper Sunday Roast with Spanish music playing in the background. It was pretty random.

Day 6: Boat to Koh Rong

My favourite part of the trip: Going to Koh Rong Island! A return ferry ticket will cost you around $22 and will only take around 45 minutes. There are two islands: Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem. I have only been to Koh Rong, but I’ve heard both islands are beautiful.

It will depend what you are looking for. Koh Rong Samloem is more quite, you will not even find a wi-fi connection. While Koh Rong is more of a party island. However, both islands are not really developed yet, so accommodation will be pretty basic, so keep that in mind.

Day 7-8: Koh Rong

Spend two days on the beautiful island of Koh Rong! Or even more if you like! The island is great for sunbathing, going out or taking boat tours during the day. Or just be like me and spend the whole day taking pictures of the beautiful white sand beaches.

Day 9: Travel to Phnom Penh

And now it is time to travel to the capital of Cambodia. For that you will first have to take a boat back to Sihanoukville from where you can take a bus to Phnom Penh. The bus will take around 5 hours.

Day 10-11: Phnom Penh

If you have done your research about Cambodia, then you will know about the dark part of Cambodia’s history. If you are in Phnom Penh you can visit Cambodia’s most famous Killing Field as well as the S21 Prison. This prison used to be a school and was then turned into a torture place. It is now a museum.

Other than then that you can wander around the capital and visit the Palace or one of the many markets.

After Phnom Penh you can either fly out or exit to Vietnam, which is pretty close.

And if you have more time: Kampot is another place that travellers like to visit. And also you might want to visit not only Koh Rong but also Koh Rong Samleom in your Cambodia itinerary to see which island you like better.

To conclude, 11 days were enough to see everything that I wanted to see, but I could have easily also spent another week in this beautiful country.

And that was my Cambodia Itinerary! Have you been to Cambodia or are you planning a trip in the near future?

Let me know in the comments!

Talk to you soon x

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