7 days in Cambodia – Trip Highlights and what I would do differently

Trip Highlights

Temples of Angkor Wat: Angokar Wat easily has to be the highlight of any trip to Cambodia. 

Whilst Angkor Wat is the largest and most well known temple in Siem Reap, my favourite was Ta Prohm temple (Where Angelina Jolie’s 2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie was filmed).

What also made the temples special was the Hindu/Buddhist cultural mix in the temple architecture which I had not seen before.  The very large gallery scenes depicting Ramayana, Mahabarata and the Churning of the sea of milk were magnificent- and all stories I had grown up with.

Koh Rong: It has been several years since I was on a Sandy beach – but that is not the only reason I loved Pagoda beach in Koh Rong.

The beach was picture perfect and the Secret Garden hotel was fantastic – with great food and great service.

It reminded me of the many beach holidays we’ve taken, in Sri Lanka, Maldives and Scotland (yes Scotland!).

Things to do differently on a return trip

Visit in November/December/January:
We did not time our visit well. April is hot and humid in Cambodia. In Siem Reap it reaches 40 degrees C during midday which makes for very uncomfortable site seeing.

It is also the back-end of the dry season, which means that the massive Tong Le Sap lake (4 times as big as Singapore) the water levels are at their lowest, so the floating communities aren’t actually floating.

The river water is muddy brown and the boat hulls scrape the river bed. On the plus side, April has fewer tourists.  Our guides told us the best time to visit is November/December/January. The rainy season has ended, and it is much cooler in these months as well.

More time to visit Angkor Temples:
We spent a full day in Siem Reap and got to see 3 of the best temples in Angkor Wat. But there is so much more to see. I would have loved to stayed for a day or two more and done a bicycle tour of some of the sites.

Visit Angkor Wat before Sunrise:
We only realised this was an option when we got there. Angkor Wat opens at 0530 in the morning and it would be great to be able to see the sunrise. Starting early and finishing early is also a great away to avoid the midday heat.

Stay longer at Koh Rong:
I would love to have spent longer at Koh Rong. Two days simply isn’t enough for paradise.

So, there you go. My highlights and lessons learnt from Cambodia. Have you been to Cambodia? Would you like to visit? Are there any must Cambodia visit sites on your list? Leave a comment and let me know.