Cambodia Reveal Tour

Cambodia Reveal Tour

Phnom Penh/Kratie/KG Thom/Siem Reap/ Battambang
14 Days / 13 Nights

A great adventure tour through all main Cambodian highlights. Starting in the capital city, Phnom Penh with it historical Palace, Museums, and Temples are known all over the country, continue to Kratie with it indolent atmosphere. Visit a number of villages and temples on the way to Kompong Thom, and after worldwide known Angkor Wat in Siem Reap where we stay for a few days to explore and be involved in truly Cambodian culture. Leisure Battambang and back to Phnom Penh.

Day 1: Phnom Penh - Arrival (-/L/D)

Welcome to Cambodia! Upon arrival at Phnom Penh international airport complete Cambodian via and custom processing; meet your private guide and driver transfer to the hotel. After having lunch at a local restaurant; in the afternoon, Phnom Penh city tour: Visit the Victory Monument, Visit the Royal Palace, built by King Norodom in 1866 on the site of the old town, and the Silver Pagoda. Located within the grounds of the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda is so named because of its floor, which is made up of 5000 silver tiles. The treasures include a solid gold Buddha encrusted and weighing 90 kilos and a small 17th-century emerald and baccarat crystal Buddha (please note that the Palace is sometimes closed when the King is in residence). Enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

Choose option accommodation in Phnom Penh

Day 2: Phnom Penh (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel; in the morning we use cyclos to visit the Wat Phnom Temple, Phnom Penh's namesake, the Central Market and the National Museum also called Musee des Beaux-Arts. A French archaeologist and painter, Georges Groslier, designed it in Khmer style in 1917. The museum contains a collection of Khmer art - notably sculptures. Lunch at hotel.

In the afternoon, we visit the Notorious Tuol Sleng Museum by vehicle. In 1975 Tuol Svay Prey High School was taken over by Pol Pot's security forces and turned into a prison known as Security Prison 21 (S-21). It soon became the largest such center of detention and torture in the country. More than 17.000 people held at S-21 were taken to the extermination camp at Choeung Ek to be executed; detainees who died during torture were buried in mass graves in the prison ground. The museum displays include room after room of these photographs of men, women, and children covering the walls from floor to ceiling; virtually all the people pictured were later killed.

Visit the Russian Market (Psah Tuol Thom Pong), a lively outdoor market where you will find antiquities, silver and gold jewelry, gems, silk, kramas, stone and wood carvings, as well as T-Shirts, CDs, and other souvenirs. Mekong sunset cruise one hour (joint tour). Enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

Choose option accommodation in Phnom Penh

Day 3: Phnom Penh - Kratie (B/L/D)

Breakfast at hotel; Drive to Kratie via Kompong Cham & Snuol. Lunch will be at a local restaurant in Snuol. Once we arrive at Kratie we start a city tour of this small provincial town with its good examples of sumptuous colonial architecture. This tiny town on the Mekong is an unexpected delight, with a relaxing, indolent atmosphere. Further north stop at the best riverside vantage point from which to view the rare freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins which can be best seen late afternoon. Then, drive back to Kratie.

Dinner will at a local restaurant.

Choose option accommodation in Kratie

Day 4: Kratie - Kompong Cham - Kompong Thom (B/L/D)

After breakfast start to visit the Kratie pagoda and market. Continue to Chhlong, a small and peaceful village on the Mekong River bank with both, typical Khmer and Colonial architecture. One unique and beautiful wooden house is called 100 columns house for its many columns supporting the house, dating from the 19th century. Before arriving in Kompong Cham, visit Chhup, the biggest rubber plantation in the country, established during the French colonial time by the French tire maker Michelin.

Lunch will be at a local restaurant in Kompong Cham. Then visit Wat Nokor Pagoda with its ancient temple and modern style pagoda (12th century) and then drive to Kompong Thom pass through Cambodia countryside. Arrive at Kompong Thom in the early afternoon check-in at your hotel and free relax before time transfer for dinner at a local restaurant this evening.

Choose option accommodation in Kampong Thom

Day 5: Kompong Thom – Sambor Prei Kuk - Siem Reap (B/L/D)

After breakfast, we depart Kompong Thom for Sambor Prei Kuk, located 35 km northeast of Kompong Thom. Visit the ancient capital of Chenla with its 100 temples dating from the Pre-Angkorean period. Return to Kompong Thom. Lunch will be at a local restaurant. Then continue the trip to Siem Reap, you will also stop at the Naga Bridge (Spean Praptos), located 40 km from Siem Reap. Arrive in Siem Reap in the late afternoon and free relax as your leisure time.

Choose option accommodation in Siem Reap

Day 6: Siem Reap – Roluos Group Temples (B/L/D)

Breakfast at hotel, Visit the Roluos Group. The monuments of Roluos which served as the capital of Indravarman I (reigned 877-89), are among the earliest large, permanent temples built by the Khmers and mark the beginning of Khmer classical art. Preah Ko was erected by Indravarman I in the late 9th century dedicated by the King to his ancestors in 880.

Bakong is the largest and most interesting of the Roluos group temples, with his active Buddhist monastery just to the north of the east entrance. Lolei was built on an islet in the center of a large reservoir (now rice fields) by Yasovarman I, the founder of the first city at Angkor.

Lunch will be at the hotel. In the afternoon, continue your temple tour to the unique interior brick sculptures of Prasat Kravan, Srah Srang ("The Royal Baths" was once used for ritual bathing), Banteay Kdei (surrounded by 4 concentric walls), Eastern Mebon, (guarded at its corner by stone figures of harnessed elephants, some of which are still in a reasonable state of preservation) and the mountain-temple of Pre Rup until sunset. Enjoy dinner with the Apsara dance show at a local restaurant.

Choose option accommodation in Siem Reap

Day 7: Siem Reap – Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel; in the morning, visit the most famous of all the temples on the plain of Angkor: Angkor Wat. The temple complex covers 81 hectares and is comparable in size to the Imperial Palace in Beijing. Its distinctive five towers are emblazoned on the Cambodian flag and the 12th-century masterpiece is considered by art historians to be the prime example of classical Khmer art and architecture. Angkor Wat's five towers symbolize Meru's five peaks - the enclosed wall represents the mountains at the edge of the world and the surrounding moat, the ocean beyond.

Lunch will be at a local restaurant. Then continue to visit the South Gate (with its huge statues depicting the churning of the ocean of milk), the ancient capital of Angkor Thom (12th century), Bayon Temple (unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces of Avalokitesvara), the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas, the Elephants Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King. Finish your day tour with unforgettable temples.

Enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

Choose option accommodation in Siem Reap

Day 8: Siem Reap – Beng Mealea & Banteay Srei (B/L/D)

Breakfast at hotel; Morning, drive to the remote Beng Mealea temple through the typical Khmer countryside (60 km from Siem Reap) Explore the long-abandoned temple (11th century), strangled by the jungle. A lunch box will be provided at the site. Proceed to the Banteay Srei temple (10th century) regarded as the jewel in the crown of classical Khmer art. Then visit Banteay Samre, one of the most complete complexes at Angkor due to restoration using the method of "anastylosis".

The name Samre refers to an ethnic group of mountain people, who inhabited the region at the base of Phnom Kulen and were probably related to the Khmers. No inscriptions have been found for this temple, but the style of most of the architecture is of the classic art of the middle period similar to Angkor Wat. The proportions of Banteay Samre are splendid. A unique feature is an interior moat with laterite paving, which when filled with water must have given an ethereal atmosphere to the temple. Drive back to Siem Reap. Enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

Choose option accommodation in Siem Reap

Day 9: Siem Reap – Tonle Sap & Preah khan (B/L/D)

Breakfast at hotel; start excursion to the floating village of Chong Khneas, located 10 kilometers south of Siem Reap. Take a boat trip in a traditional wooden boat on the Tonle Sap Lake, the "Great Lake" of Cambodia, one of the largest in Asia.

To make your itinerary more flexible, the visit to the Tonle Sap lake could also be replaced by the below visits: Visit the Silk Farm of Puok. Learn the different stages of the complex process of producing handmade silk. Visit Wat Inkosei built on the site of an ancient temple, which still remains. Continue to Wat Bo pagoda to view its well-preserved paintings. You will also observe monks making the various moldings, which adorn the pagodas. Lunch will be at the hotel.

Afternoon, continue to visit Preah Khan; Built by King Jayavarman VII, Preah Khan is, like Ta Prohm, a place of towered enclosures and shoulder-hugging corridors. Unlike Ta Prohm, though, it's well preserved and ongoing restoration efforts should improve this situation. Visit as well Neak Pean a fountain built in the middle of a pool and the temple of Ta Som. Enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

Choose option accommodation in Siem Reap

Day 10: Siem Reap – Ta Prohm, Takeo Temple & Artisans d’Angkor (B/L/-)

Breakfast at the hotel; in the morning, continue the temple tour to Takeo, Thommanon, Chau Say Tevoda, and 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. Will be at a local restaurant. After lunch, visit "Les Artisans d'Angkor - Chantiers Ecoles" of Siem Reap and spend time at leisure at a local market (if time permits). Enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

Choose option accommodation in Siem Reap

Day 11: Siem Reap – Battambang via Tonle Sap (by boat) (B/L/D)

Breakfast at hotel; Travel by boat from Siem Reaps to Battambang. Cross the Tonle Sap Lake and the floating village of Prek Tuol. Stop at Cheur Khmao Pagoda “Black Wood Pagoda". Enjoy the unspoiled landscapes and traditional daily-life scenes along Sangker River. Enjoy Picnic lunch on board during the navigation. Arrive at Battambang port and transfer to hotel. Free relax as your leisure time and this evening your private driver will pick up you for dinner in a local restaurant in the city.

Choose option accommodation in Battambang

Day 12: Battambang history tour –Half-Day (B/-/-)

Breakfast at the hotel; Stroll through the city with its well-preserved example of colonial architecture and visit the local market. Then drive along the picturesque Sangker River to Wat Slaket Pagoda, the residence of the provincial Buddhist patriarch. Continue to visit Wat Ek Phnom (11th century - Suryavarman I). The rest of the day is free as your leisure time.

Choose option accommodation in Battambang

Day 13: Battambang - Phnom Penh via Udong (B/L/-)

After breakfast starts your trip to Phnom Penh with a first stop at the pottery village in Kompong Chhnang. Then we will take a visit to Oudong - which was founded by King Srei Soryapor in 1601, after the abandonment of Longvek. Under the reign of King Ang Duong (1841-1850), he constructed canals, terraces, and bridges and erected hundreds of pagodas in this region. Oudong was later abandoned by King Norodom in 1866 in favor of Phnom Penh. Arrive at Phnom Penh late afternoon. Either leisure at your hotel or last-minute shopping at Central Market.

Choose option accommodation in Phnom Penh

Day 14: Phnom Penh - Departure (B/-/-)

The hotel check-out time is 12:00 noon. Today you will be transferred to the airport for onward your flight time (TBC).

***END SERVICES***