Day-by-day programme of this 12-day itinerary across From the temples of Angkor to the southern coast.
Day 1 â Arrival in Phnom Penh
Landing in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, a chaotic and fascinating city at the confluence of three rivers. A first stroll along the riverfront at sunset.
- âïļ Phnom Penh â Aeroporto di Phnom Penh (PNH)
- ð Sisowath Quay â The Sisowath Quay riverfront is the living room of Phnom Penh: a lively walk along the bank of the Tonle Sap, where at sunset families, saffron-robed monks and street vendors gather, with boats gliding on the water. Nearby, Wat Phnom on a small hill gives the city its name. It is a first, gentle contact with Cambodia. You dine on a Khmer curry (amok) overlooking the river.
- ðĻ The Pavilion â Centro / lungofiume, Phnom Penh
Day 2 â Phnom Penh, history and memory
A day of contrasts: the splendour of the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda in the morning, and in the afternoon the memorial sites of the Khmer Rouge genocide.
- ð Royal Palace â The Royal Palace, residence of the King of Cambodia, is a glittering complex of pavilions with pointed golden roofs, gardens and throne halls. Inside, the Silver Pagoda takes its name from the 5,000 silver tiles of its floor and holds a gold Buddha studded with diamonds. Next to it, the National Museum gathers the masterpieces of Khmer sculpture. After this immersion in splendour, the mood changes completely.
- ð Tuol Sleng (S-21) â The Tuol Sleng museum was the secret prison S-21, a former school where the Khmer Rouge regime tortured and killed thousands of people between 1975 and 1979. The classrooms turned into cells, the mugshots of the victims and the accounts of the very few survivors are a necessary blow to memory. It is a hard but essential visit to understand Cambodia. From here you reach the Killing Fields, outside the city.
- ð Choeung Ek (Killing Fields) â The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek are the field where the victims of S-21 were taken to be executed and buried in mass graves. Today a silent memorial, dominated by a stupa holding thousands of skulls, recounts through a moving audio guide one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century. You return to Phnom Penh in contemplation. In the evening, a quiet dinner helps to process it. Tomorrow you set off for Battambang.
Day 3 â Towards Battambang
Transfer to Battambang, Cambodia's second city, with a sleepy French atmosphere, surrounded by rice paddies. An evening along the Sangker river.
- âïļ Phnom Penh â Battambang â Battambang, Cambogia
- ð―ïļ Battambang â Battambang has a small but lively food scene: you dine in a town-centre restaurant with Khmer dishes such as lok lak (stir-fried beef) or river fish, perhaps supporting a place that trains disadvantaged youngsters. The town is perfect for tasting rural, authentic Cambodia, away from the crowds. Tomorrow the highlight day: the bamboo train and the hill of the bats.
- ðĻ Bambu Hotel â Centro, Battambang
Day 4 â Bamboo Train and Phnom Sampeau
A day in the Battambang countryside: the famous bamboo train, the artisan workshops and, at sunset, the exodus of millions of bats from the caves of Phnom Sampeau.
- ðŊ Bamboo Train â The bamboo train (norry) is a uniquely Cambodian experience: a platform of bamboo slats mounted on two axles and driven by a small engine, which races along old, uneven tracks through rice paddies and villages. When two 'trains' meet, the one with fewer passengers is dismantled in seconds to let the other pass. Fun and surreal. During the day you also visit workshops of rice paper, prahok and palm sugar. In the afternoon you head for the hill.
- ð Phnom Sampeau â Phnom Sampeau is a sacred hill crowned by temples and an immense view over the plain. It also holds the 'killing caves', where the Khmer Rouge threw their victims: a memorial that recalls the tragedy. But the not-to-be-missed moment is sunset, when from the mouth of a cave pours an unbroken river of millions of bats, a black spiral in the sky lasting almost an hour. A hypnotic natural spectacle. You return to Battambang for the night.
Day 5 â Towards Siem Reap
Transfer to Siem Reap, a lively town that serves as the base for visiting Angkor. A first taste among the old market, the artisans and the famous Pub Street.
- âïļ Battambang â Siem Reap â Siem Reap, Cambogia
- ð Old Market (Psar Chas) â The Old Market (Psar Chas) is the commercial heart of Siem Reap: spices, tropical fruit, krama silk scarves and street food mingle in a colourful maze. Steps away pulses Pub Street, very lively in the evening among restaurants, stalls of fried insects and bars. It is the right place to dine and prepare for the dawn wake-up: tomorrow you go to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat.
- ðĻ Apsara Centrepole Hotel â Centro, Siem Reap
Day 6 â Sunrise over Angkor Wat
The dream moment of the trip: dawn behind the towers of Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world, followed by a full visit of the temple.
- ðŊ Angkor Wat â Waking in the dark and arriving at Angkor Wat while it is still night: little by little the sky turns pink and orange behind the five lotus-bud towers, reflected in the pond in front. It is one of the most moving moments a trip can give. Then you explore the temple, built in the 12th century: the bas-reliefs hundreds of metres long, the galleries, the steep climb to the central tower. You return to Siem Reap to rest during the hot hours.
- ð Angkor Wat â Angkor Wat is the very symbol of Cambodia, so much so that it features on the national flag: a masterpiece of balance and proportion built as a representation of Mount Meru, abode of the gods. You walk the corridors covered in bas-reliefs narrating battles and Hindu mythologies, including the famous 'churning of the ocean of milk', and climb to the central sanctuary. In the afternoon, rest or a massage in town. Tomorrow you enter the walled city of Angkor Thom.
Day 7 â Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm
A day among the masterpieces of Angkor: the imperial city of Angkor Thom with the 200-faced Bayon, the royal terraces and the magical Ta Prohm enveloped by tree roots.
- ð Bayon â You enter the walled city of Angkor Thom through a monumental gate flanked by statues, and at its centre rises the Bayon: a temple-mountain topped by over fifty towers, each carved with four enormous smiling faces gazing in the four directions, perhaps the portrait of the god-king Jayavarman VII. Walking among those 200 stone faces is hypnotic. You then see the Baphuon and the Terrace of the Elephants, from which the king watched the parades. Then, the most photographed temple.
- ð Ta Prohm â Ta Prohm is the temple that has made the world dream: deliberately left at the mercy of the jungle, it is embraced by giant spung-tree roots that pour over the walls like wooden waterfalls, crushing the stones. It is here that Tomb Raider was filmed. The atmosphere, among moss, shadows and birdsong, is that of discovering a lost city. You lunch in the shade and in the afternoon visit Preah Khan, quieter. Return to Siem Reap.
Day 8 â Banteay Srei and the Tonle Sap
The exquisite pink temple of Banteay Srei in the morning and, in the afternoon, the life suspended on water of the floating villages of the great Tonle Sap lake.
- ð Banteay Srei â About thirty kilometres from Angkor, Banteay Srei is considered the jewel of Khmer art: a small temple in pink sandstone entirely covered in bas-reliefs chiselled with a lacework finesse, so perfect they seem carved in wood. Its deities and guardians are among the finest sculptures in all of Angkor. Along the way you cross rice paddies and villages. In the afternoon you head down towards the great lake.
- ðŊ Tonle Sap â The Tonle Sap is the largest lake in Southeast Asia, an ecosystem that swells and shrinks with the seasons. On its waters live whole floating villages: at Kampong Phluk you sail among houses on very tall stilts, a flooded mangrove forest and markets that operate by boat, discovering a unique way of life tied to water and fishing. The sunset over the lake is magnificent. You return to Siem Reap for the last evening among the temples.
Day 9 â The south: Kampot and Kep
A flight to the southern coast and transfer to Kampot, a sleepy riverside town famous for its pepper, with an excursion to Kep and its crab market.
- âïļ Siem Reap â Sihanoukville â Aeroporto di Sihanoukville (KOS)
- ð―ïļ Kep Crab Market â Kep, half an hour from Kampot, is famous for its crab market: you choose live, freshly caught crabs and eat them stir-fried in Kampot's fresh green pepper, the celebrated 'crab with pepper', seated on terraces overlooking the sea. It is one of the tastiest dishes in Southeast Asia. Around it, the town keeps the faded charm of the colonial villas of the bourgeoisie of old. You return to Kampot for the evening.
- ðĻ The Square Kampot Hotel â Lungofiume, Kampot
Day 10 â Bokor National Park
A drive up to Bokor National Park, a cool, misty plateau with the ghostly remains of a French colonial hill station and views over the ocean.
- ð Bokor Hill Station â A winding road climbs to Bokor National Park, where the French built a holiday resort in the 1920s to escape the heat. Abandoned and reclaimed by the mist, it preserves the ghostly remains of an old casino, a church and hotels, in a surreal, cinematic atmosphere. From the plateau, on clear days, the view sweeps over the ocean and the islands. Cool air and forests are a counterpoint to the coastal heat. A free afternoon in Kampot.
- ðŊ Kampot River â In the afternoon you go down to the Kampot river for a sunset cruise: a slow boat glides among the mangroves as the sun dives behind the Bokor mountains, turning the water gold. In season, after dark, you can see fireflies light up the trees along the banks. It is the perfect way to bid farewell to the mainland. Tomorrow you board for the island of Koh Rong, the last stop.
Day 11 â The island of Koh Rong
A boat to the island of Koh Rong: white sand, turquoise sea, jungle and, at night, the sea glowing with bioluminescent plankton.
- âïļ Kampot â Koh Rong â Koh Rong, Cambogia
- ðŊ Koh Rong â After a seafood dinner on the beach, the most magical experience of Koh Rong: a brief night swim sets the water alight with a thousand blue sparks, the bioluminescent plankton that glows with every movement, like stars dissolved in the sea. Above, the light-free sky is thick with real stars. It is a fairy-tale ending to the trip. You sleep lulled by the sound of the waves. Tomorrow, sadly, you head home.
- ðĻ Palm Beach Bungalow Resort â Spiaggia, Koh Rong
Day 12 â Departure from Cambodia
Return from the island to the mainland and the flight home. The end of the journey among ancient temples, poignant history, rivers and beaches of Cambodia.
- âïļ Sihanoukville â Aeroporto di Milano Malpensa (MXP)
