Our favourite Cambodia tours and excursions

Get an insider’s perspective on daily life in Cambodia with our hand-picked, hands-on experiences, each one designed to get you beneath the surface of the local culture.

What do we mean by “experience”? Well, what we don’t mean is cookie-cutter walking tours and ticking off TripAdvisor’s top-ten list. These experiences will take you inside the lives of ordinary Cambodians, putting you in touch with the culture through some of its most extraordinary people.

We get it — not everyone is a fan of guided day tours. Maybe that’s you. But then again, maybe you just haven’t been on a really great one yet. If that’s the case, let us be the ones to persuade you — because a tip-top tour or a hands-on cultural experience can absolutely make your vacation.

People are the key — we can’t stress that enough. We’ve combed the country for the most knowledgeable and engaging guides, and we’re rigorous about ensuring that the experiences we support benefit local communities. What’s more, we only ever recommend experiences we’ve tried and loved ourselves.

Take our bike tour of the Battambang countryside, for example. Sure, anyone can just rent a bike and go. But would you be able to visit cottage industries to see the craftspeople at work? Would you get to hear the local legend about that quiet, rural temple? Or be able to ask the village silk weaver how she does it? These are the little differences between a good experience and a great one; between seeing Cambodia and really experiencing it.

Aerial view of kayakers in Botum Sakor National Park

Wildlife hikes & kayaking in Botum Sakor National Park

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.

Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields

Between 1975 and 1979, as many as two million Cambodians — a quarter of the country’s population — were persecuted and killed by the Khmer Rouge. While it’s tempting to turn away from such nightmares, grappling with them is the only real way to appreciate the incredible resilience, determination and drive of the Cambodian people.

The genocide is commemorated at the Tuol Sleng Museum, a former school that served as a Khmer Rouge prison camp, and at the Killing Fields, where prisoners were taken to be executed. Visiting these sites is a profoundly chilling experience but, we think, an important one.

Phnom Penh's street food by night

“You start with crickets and a beer.” That’s Angelina Jolie’s advice on Cambodian street food — but don’t worry, it’s not all about deep-fried tarantulas.

Travel by tuk-tuk on a night-time tour of Phnom Penh and you’ll soon find out: Khmer cuisine all about rich, coconutty amoks, fish so fresh it’s almost flapping, pungent fermented sauces, fragrant cardamom and — of course — the spicy, eucalyptus zing of Kampot pepper. Accompanying your culinary introduction to the capital will be a range of freshly prepared exotic cocktails, and plenty of photo opportunities at some of the city’s most impressive landmarks lit up against the night sky.

The backstreets of Phnom Penh

It's easy to beeline from landmark to landmark, but the tours we really love dive into the life that goes on in between.

That’s why, on this tour, you're as likely to find yourself glimpsing into local shops and businesses as hearing about the days of colonialism at the Royal Palace — and you’ll spend more time mingling with the locals at riverside parks or back-alley temples than admiring monuments. Phnom Penh’s authenticity and simple, unguarded friendliness make it one of the most rewarding places in Southeast Asia to tap into the rhythms of city life, and this tour is a brilliant way to start your trip.

An old brick archway partially painted provides beautiful views of royal palance in Phnom Penh

Architecture tour of Phnom Penh

It’s often bemoaned that Phnom Penh is no longer the “pearl” it was in the 1920s — but since when did beautiful equate to interesting anyway?

Whether it’s 1950s buildings that blend traditional construction with modern materials or colonial-era buildings repurposed by the Khmer Rouge, the messy, unpredictable (and yes, sometimes ugly) architecture of modern Phnom Penh has some fascinating stories to tell. After lunch in the 19th-century headquarters of Messageries Fluviales de Cochinchine (a colonial shipping company), trishaw your way through the French Quarter to conclude with a cruise on the Mekong, where traditional pagodas jostle with contemporary architecture along the riverside.

Walking with elephants in Mondulkiri

Gargantuan and yet surprisingly sensitive, an elephant can crack a peanut shell without breaking the seed and react to the touch of a feather on their leathery hides.

The Mondulkiri Project rescues these highly intelligent animals from exploitation in logging and tourism,and provides them with a safe and happy retirement while educating the local community on elephant welfare. One thing you definitely won’t be doing is riding them – which is good. You can appreciate something without trying to ride it. You will be able to walk with them through the forest: a profoundly humbling experience.