Our favorite 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.

Kayaking on Tonlé Sap Lake

If exploring Tonlé Sap’s sunken fields and stilt villages by longtail boat is like taking a bus, we like to think of kayaking as the waterborne equivalent of a leisurely stroll.

Under your own steam – and without the annoying buzz of an outboard motor – you’re free to slow it down, explore, and perhaps spot things you’d never have noticed otherwise. We also find it’s the best way to interact with locals, as you can stop to chat at your leisure or hop off for lunch at a floating café. For us there’s no question: this is the best way to see Tonlé Sap.

La Plantation pepper farm

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 favorite 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.

Sambor Prei Kuk

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 civilization 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.

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. Channeling 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, catalog 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.

Soksabike tour of Battambang

Soksabike is one of our absolute favorite partners in Cambodia. A local company with a wholehearted commitment to forging real connections between travelers and local people, they’re not interested in parading tourists through show villages.

Instead, their cycle tours get you involved in the daily life of the villages, farms and cottage industries of the Battambang countryside by introducing you to some of its most interesting people. Whether you’re making rice paper or trying the local cakes, this is exactly the kind of slow, explorative, and mutually beneficial travel that Cambodia is all about.

Insider Experience: Contemporary art tour of Battambang

We already loved Battambang for its sleepy, colonial-era town center and charming rural surrounds, but did you know that it’s also the beating heart of Cambodian contemporary art?

This tour will take you inside the country's post-Khmer Rouge cultural revival, introducing you to the local artists and curators who are driving it forward. In one art café, you’ll sip award-winning coffee at a screening of short films. Later, you’ll visit a local artist’s studio for a one-to-one discussion of his work. For us, Battambang’s wealth of little galleries, studios and quirky exhibition spaces make it one of the most exciting destinations in the country.