9 days 8 nights
Specific Tour
14 people
English
Quick answer
A nine-day private tour from Angkor in Cambodia to southern Laos: Angkor Wat, Koh Ker, Beng Mealea and Tonle Sap, then a flight to Pakse for the Bolaven Plateau, Wat Phou, two nights in the 4,000 Islands and Khone Phapheng Falls.
From US$1,150 per person for the whole tour, based on 4 travellers sharing double rooms in 4★ hotels as listed (couples travelling alone pay a little more). It changes with hotel level, season and group size, and is confirmed in your tailor-made quote.
| Day | Route and highlights | Overnight |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrive in Siem Reap, crafts and Apsara dinner | Siem Reap |
| 2 | Angkor Wat sunrise, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm | Siem Reap |
| 3 | Phnom Bok and the forest capital of Koh Ker | Koh Ker |
| 4 | Beng Mealea and a sunset boat on Tonle Sap | Siem Reap |
| 5 | Fly to Pakse and up to the Bolaven Plateau | Paksong (Bolaven Plateau) |
| 6 | Champasak and Wat Phou, on to Don Khong | Don Khong |
| 7 | By boat through the 4,000 Islands to Don Khone | Don Khone |
| 8 | Khone Phapheng Falls and back to Champasak | Champasak |
| 9 | A slow morning in Champasak and departure | — |
Private tour with your own English-speaking guide · 9 days / 8 nights · Siem Reap – Angkor – Phnom Bok – Koh Ker – Beng Mealea – Tonle Sap – Pakse – Bolaven Plateau – Champasak – Wat Phou – Don Khong – Don Khone – Khone Phapheng
This Cambodia and southern Laos tour connects two places that were once part of the same Khmer world. You start with four days around Siem Reap: Angkor Wat at sunrise, the Bayon and Ta Prohm, a night near the forest capital of Koh Ker, Beng Mealea and a sunset boat on Tonle Sap Lake.
A short flight takes you to Pakse in southern Laos. You drive up to the cool Bolaven Plateau for coffee farms and waterfalls, visit Wat Phou, a temple older than Angkor Wat, and spend two nights among the 4,000 Islands, where the Mekong spreads wide and life moves at the speed of a bicycle.
It is a quieter side of Southeast Asia, well suited to couples, older travelers and families with children over 10 who have seen the classic sights or want a calmer trip.
Easy to moderate. Temple days at Angkor involve two to three hours of walking on uneven stone and steep steps. In Laos, walking is short and gentle and daily drives are one to three hours on paved roads, with boat rides between the islands. Suitable for couples, older travelers and families with children over 10.
Three nights at Saem Siem Reap (Deluxe room) and one night at Koh Ker Temples Garden in Cambodia, then Sabaidee Valley Resort in Paksong, Pon Arena Hotel on Don Khong, Sengahloune Resort on Don Khone and The River Resort (Riverfront Villa) in Champasak, or similar.
November to February is the most comfortable time, with dry, sunny days and cool nights on the Bolaven Plateau. March to May is very hot in the lowlands, and at the end of the dry season more islands appear in the Mekong. From June to October the waterfalls are at their most powerful and the countryside is green, but island paths can be muddy.
Your guide and driver are yours alone for the whole trip, so the pace, the stops and the start time each morning follow you. The standard version has an English-speaking guide; guides who speak French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese or Vietnamese can be arranged on request (subject to availability).
More ideas: All multi-country private tours · Angkor in Depth in 5 Days · Southern Laos in 5 Days · Journey Through the Heart of Indochina in 16 Days
Photos: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Radosław Botev, CC BY 3.0 pl, via Wikimedia Commons; Reinhard Onasch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Arian Zwegers, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; David Sim, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; rubixcuben, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Your guide and driver meet you at Siem Reap airport. Visit the Artisans d'Angkor workshops, where young Cambodians train in silk weaving and stone carving, and stroll through the Old Market. In the evening, enjoy dinner with a performance of Apsara dance.
Overnight: Siem Reap · Meals: D
Watch dawn break over Angkor Wat, then explore its long galleries of carved reliefs. Continue to Angkor Thom, the faces of the Bayon, the royal terraces and Preah Khan. After lunch, wander through Ta Prohm, where fig trees grow through the towers, and end with sunset from Pre Rup.
Overnight: Siem Reap · Meals: B, L
Climb the hilltop temple of Phnom Bok for a view over the plain, enjoy a picnic lunch in a village and continue to Koh Ker, a 10th-century capital where a seven-tiered pyramid rises from the forest. Dinner is home-style or at your hotel.
Overnight: Koh Ker · Meals: B, L, D
Explore Beng Mealea, a vast 12th-century temple still wrapped in jungle, and stop at the monastery of Pouk. Later, take a boat through a floating village on Tonle Sap Lake, where houses and schools rise and fall with the water, as the light softens. Dinner at a local restaurant in Siem Reap.
Overnight: Siem Reap · Meals: B, L, D
Fly from Siem Reap to Pakse in southern Laos, direct on flight days or via Vientiane. Your Lao guide meets you and you drive up onto the Bolaven Plateau, home of the finest Lao coffee. Visit a coffee and tea plantation for a tasting, then the waterfalls of Tad Fane, the highest in Champasak province, and Tad Yuang.
Overnight: Paksong (Bolaven Plateau) · Meals: B, L
Drive down into the Mekong plain to Champasak, a sleepy town of French colonial houses, and visit Wat Phou, a UNESCO-listed temple begun around the 5th century, with carvings of Indra and Vishnu on its sandstone shrines. Continue south to Don Khong, the largest island of Si Phan Don.
Overnight: Don Khong · Meals: B, L
Spend the day exploring Si Phan Don by boat, where the Mekong spreads up to 12 kilometers wide and countless small islands appear as the water drops. Pass Don Det and continue to Don Khone, quieter and greener, linked by an old French-era bridge, and walk its peaceful paths with your guide.
Overnight: Don Khone · Meals: B, L
Return to the mainland to see Khone Phapheng, where the whole Mekong tumbles over a wide rock shelf near the Cambodian border. Then drive north to Champasak for your last night in a villa on the riverbank.
Overnight: Champasak · Meals: B, L
Enjoy a free morning by the river in Champasak, then transfer to Pakse airport, about an hour's drive, for your flight home or to your next destination.
Meals: B
By air to Pakse, about an hour, on the days with a direct flight; otherwise via Vientiane. We match your dates to the flight schedule. Overland via Stung Treng is possible but makes for a very long day.
Yes. The hotels are simple but well kept and chosen for their setting, the drives are short, and walking is gentle. Your guide adapts the pace and can shorten any visit in the heat of the day.
Short. Pakse to the Bolaven Plateau is about an hour, the plateau to Champasak about two hours, and Champasak to the islands around two to three hours with stops. Between the islands you travel by boat.
Yes. This is a private tour with your own English-speaking guide. We also arrange private guides who speak French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese or Vietnamese (subject to availability): tell us when you enquire and we confirm your guide in the quote. Book early for the December to April high season.
Nothing is payable until you approve your written quote. We then ask for a 30% deposit to confirm, and the balance 45 days before arrival, by bank transfer or card. Bank details come with your booking confirmation; always confirm them with us by phone or WhatsApp (+84 812 247 572) before any transfer.
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