Our favorite Cambodia tours and excursions

Today, Siem Reap is a buzzing tourism hub packed with hotels, hostels, bars and shops, so it’s difficult to imagine that just a few years ago it was little more than a rural backwater. 

That is, until you head a few minutes out of town and suddenly find yourself among farmers planting rice, weaving thatch, harvesting vegetables, and transporting fresh produce to market by oxcart. This countryside tour is a chance to immerse yourself in the rural activity of Siem Reap, and a window into a way of life that can feel as though it hasn’t changed since Angkor was built.

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.

Take a monkey’s-eye view of the jungle as you fly, climb and swing though the treetops on a mixture of ziplines, hanging bridges and platforms.

This conservation-friendly tour does not damage the trees in any way, using a clever rigging and counter-weighted system to keep the equipment in the canopy. Even better, a percentage of their profits go toward reforestation and primate rehabilitation, and you might even be lucky enough to spot a gibbon as you soar through their home! At the very least, your dedicated “Sky Ranger” will be able to tell you some fascinating facts about the surrounding jungle and wildlife.

Magnificent in both scale and artistry, half-supported and half-consumed by buttress-rooted silk-cotton trees, the temples of Angkor are among the most fantastic man-made sights on the planet.

The biggest mistake you can make is underestimating just how much there is to see — and since you’ll never cover it all, the secret is to mix it up. Check out the big hitters, but combine them with root-strangled Preah Khan, or Banteay Samré. These amazing ruins are on the Grand Circuit but they barely get a look-in, and the chances are you’ll have them almost to yourself.

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.