Cambodia Cultural & Coastal Discovery with Charissa Enget

Sou sdei! Cambodia’s capital is ready to make a first impression, and it’s a memorable one. Make your own way to the hotel, settle in, and step out into a city where French colonial mansions sit shoulder-to-shoulder with golden temple spires and humming tuk-tuks. If you’ve landed early, take a wander; the architecture alone is worth the jet lag.

At 6:00 PM the group comes together for a welcome meeting, the moment the strangers in the lobby start becoming the friends you’ll be travelling with. From there, it’s straight into your first proper Cambodian feast at Malis Restaurant, a celebrated local spot dedicated to keeping traditional Khmer cuisine alive. Expect fragrant curries, fresh herbs, and flavours you’ll be chasing for the rest of the trip.

🏨 Accommodation

• Anik Palace Hotel (Anik Classic Room) or Similar, Phnom Penh

🍽️ Included Meals

• Dinner

✅ Activities

• Welcome Meeting at 6:00 PM
• Welcome Dinner at Malis Restaurant
• Suggestion: Stroll Through the Streets to Admire the French Colonial Architecture

Today asks something of you, and it gives back tenfold. The morning is dedicated to two of Cambodia’s most important historical sites: the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. They are sobering, powerful, and essential to understanding the resilience of the Cambodian people. Your guide will hold the space gently and walk you through the history with care, helping you understand why so many in this country are working hard to make sure it never happens again.

The afternoon is yours to reflect and explore at your own pace. Find a quiet café, browse the Russian Market, or simply rest. As the sun starts dipping low, the group reconvenes for one of Phnom Penh’s signature experiences: a sunset cruise along the Mekong River. Settle in with dinner on board as the city skyline lights up around you, and watch the day melt into gold and pink across the water.

🏨 Accommodation

• Anik Palace Hotel (Anik Classic Room) or Similar, Phnom Penh

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast
• Dinner

✅ Activities

• Visit to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21)
• Visit to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek
• Sunset Cruise Along the Mekong River with Dinner on Board

After breakfast, swap the city soundtrack for a private overland transfer down to Sihanoukville on the coast. From there, hop a shared boat across sparkling water to the island of Koh Rong, watching the colour of the sea shift from blue to that unmistakable tropical-postcard turquoise as the mainland shrinks behind you.

Once you’ve checked into the resort, the rest of the day is yours. Kick off your shoes, find a hammock, swim in the warm shallows, or simply sit with a cold drink and stare out at the horizon. The pace has officially changed.

🏨 Accommodation

• Long Set Resort (Deluxe Garden View) or Similar, Koh Rong

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast

✅ Activities

• Private Overland Transfer to Sihanoukville
• Shared Boat Trip to Koh Rong
• Suggestion: Relax by the Ocean

After breakfast, head out for a private half-day snorkelling adventure across the island’s most beautiful underwater spots. Over four hours, you’ll visit two premier snorkelling sites and slip into the warm waters of the Gulf of Thailand to meet whatever’s swimming around below: technicolour reef fish, shy little crabs, and coral gardens that look almost painted.

The boat is fully kitted out with snorkelling gear, fresh fruit salads, coffee, tea, and chilled water. Once you’re back on the pier with sun-kissed cheeks and salty hair, the afternoon is yours. Nap, read, wade back into the sea, or settle in for a long lazy lunch. Whatever your version of bliss looks like, today’s the day to find it.

🏨 Accommodation

• Long Set Resort (Deluxe Garden View) or Similar, Koh Rong

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast

✅ Activities

• Private Half-Day Snorkelling Tour to Two Premier Locations
• Snorkelling Gear, Fresh Fruit Salads, Coffee, Tea, and Chilled Water on Board
• Suggestion: Relax at the Resort in the Afternoon

A whole day with no agenda, no alarm, and nowhere to be. Today is a love letter to slowing down. Walk barefoot along the coastline, find your perfect patch of sand, swim until your fingertips wrinkle, or stretch out at the resort and let the island do its thing.

This is the kind of day that resets you. The sort you’ll think back on weeks later, mid-meeting, with a quiet little smile. Soak it all in.

🏨 Accommodation

• Long Set Resort (Deluxe Garden View) or Similar, Koh Rong

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast

✅ Activities

• Suggestion: Explore the Coastline
• Suggestion: Enjoy the Resort Facilities

Time to leave the island behind and turn your face towards the cultural heart of Cambodia. After checking out, you’ll catch a shared boat back to Sihanoukville, then transfer to the airport for an included flight to Siem Reap, gateway to the legendary temples of Angkor.

Once you’ve checked into your Siem Reap hotel, the day caps off with one of the city’s must-do experiences: a performance by Phare, the Cambodian Circus. This is far from a standard circus act. It’s storytelling, acrobatics, music, and theatre rolled into one electric show, performed by local artists trained at a school that uses the arts to support vulnerable young Cambodians. You’ll leave grinning, a little awestruck, and absolutely buzzing for tomorrow.

🏨 Accommodation

• Somadevi Angkor Resort & Spa (Deluxe Room) or Similar, Siem Reap

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast

✅ Activities

• Shared Boat Transfer to Sihanoukville
• Included Flight from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap with Checked Luggage (Exact Flight TBC)
• Performance by Phare, the Cambodian Circus

You’ll be up before the birds for an early start, but the reward is worth every minute of lost sleep. Watching the sun rise behind the towers of Angkor Wat is a genuinely unforgettable experience. As the sky shifts from indigo to peach to gold, the silhouette of the world’s largest religious monument slowly reveals itself in front of you.

From there, your local guide leads you deeper into the Angkor complex. Visit the famously enigmatic stone faces of Bayon, each one smiling down from its tower, then on to the jungle-tangled ruins of Ta Prohm, where giant tree roots have spent centuries reclaiming the temple wall by wall. Every corner has a story, and your guide will bring them all to life.

🏨 Accommodation

• Somadevi Angkor Resort & Spa (Deluxe Room) or Similar, Siem Reap

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast

✅ Activities

• Sunrise at Angkor Wat
• Guided Tour of the Angkor Temple Complex
• Visit to the Stone Faces of Bayon
• Visit to the Jungle-Entwined Ruins of Ta Prohm

Start the morning at Banteay Srei, the 10th-century “Citadel of Women”, a smaller, pink-hued temple whose carvings are widely considered the finest in all of Angkor. From there, it’s on to Preah Dak Village, where you’ll have the chance to meet local residents and see a slice of everyday Cambodian rural life up close.

The afternoon swaps stone for water as you board a boat onto the vast Tonle Sap Lake and glide into the stilted village of Kampong Phluck. Here, homes, schools, and shops perch high above the waterline, where life moves to the rhythm of the seasons. The day finishes with the perfect send-off: a special farewell dinner with a traditional Apsara dance performance, dancers in shimmering silk and golden headdresses bringing centuries-old Khmer storytelling to life.

🏨 Accommodation

• Somadevi Angkor Resort & Spa (Deluxe Room) or Similar, Siem Reap

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast
• Dinner

✅ Activities

• Visit to the 10th-Century Temple of Banteay Srei
• Stop at Preah Dak Village to Meet Local Residents
• Boat Trip to the Stilted Village of Kampong Phluck on Tonle Sap Lake
• Farewell Dinner with a Traditional Apsara Dance Show

After one last breakfast at the hotel, the day is yours. There are no formal activities planned, so you’re free to depart at your convenience.

You’ll head home with a camera roll full of temples, a heart full of new friends, and the kind of memories that quietly change how you see the world. Until next time, Cambodia.

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast