Our favourite Cambodia tours and excursions

Greater adjutants, rufous-winged buzzards, Indochinese bushlarks and white-winged ducks: a list of Kulen Promtep’s avian residents reads like a page out of Darwin’s logbook.

Covering an area of over 4,000 sq km of lowland forest and swampland, this wildlife sanctuary is the largest protected area in Cambodia and one of its most important birding sites. Over 150 species have been spotted here, including the extremely rare giant ibis, which is Cambodia’s national bird and thought to be extinct until the late 1990s. Stay at a community ecolodge and you’ll have endless opportunities to get out and spot them.

Recognisable by their distinctive snub-noses and enigmatic smiles, the largest population of Irrawaddy dolphins in the world lives in the Mekong, where — if you’re lucky — you might spot their little dorsal fins dancing about above the water not far from the village of Kampi. 

With just 92 left in the wild, this may be your last chance to see them — though we certainly hope not. Thankfully, conservationists have teamed up with fishermen to run low-volume dolphin-spotting tours, which supplement local incomes and motivate the conservation of these critically endangered (and strikingly cute) creatures.

Whether you’re a seasoned connoisseur or simply spice curious, you can’t possibly leave Cambodia without a taste of Kampot pepper. 

Practically revered in the culinary world, this musky, eucalyptus-noted peppercorn is widely considered the best of the best – and La Plantation is our favourite place to try it. First, tour the farm, smell and taste the different varieties, and learn to cook some Khmer dishes where pepper is the star of the show. Then check out the shop – stuffed with everything from black to pink and salted pepper, and even (wildly popular) pepper-infused rum. Be warned: you may need another suitcase.

Imagine stumbling upon a crumbling brick tower half-devoured by the roots of a strangler fig, accompanied by nothing but the whoops and chirps of the rainforest.

This isn’t Angkor — this is Sambor Prei Kuk, an ancient city much older, more mysterious, and (for some of us) more lovely than the more famous temples to the west. Constructed around 1,200 years ago by the Hindu civilisation of Chenla, it was recently named Cambodia’s third World Heritage Site. What’s most amazing is how many people unknowingly zoom past on the highway instead of stopping, meaning you can have these tumbledown ruins almost to yourself.

Cardamom Camp isn’t just an extraordinary glamping experience in the heart of an incredibly beautiful jungle. Channelling all their profits into protecting their little slice of rainforest from illegal logging and poaching, this is one of the most determined and impressive conservation efforts we've seen anywhere. 

Join the rangers to check camera traps, catalogue flora, and seek out and record animal trails – then take it all in from a different perspective as you kayak on the river between rolling banks of jungle as far as the eye can see. With a plush double bed and a hot shower waiting for you in your luxurious safari tent, Cardamom Camp is something else.