Cambodia Legacy: Angkor, Koh Ker, Battambang and Phnom Penh in 9 Days

Your guide and driver welcome you at Siem Reap airport and take you to your hotel near the town center. The rest of the afternoon is free to rest after your flight, enjoy the pool or take a first stroll along the river and through the lanes around the Old Market. In the evening your guide joins you again for dinner at a local restaurant, a chance to try Khmer dishes such as fish amok and to talk through the days ahead.Overnight: Siem Reap · Meals: D

Rise early to watch sunrise at Angkor Wat, then return to the hotel for breakfast. Explore Angkor Thom through its South Gate: the Bayon, with 54 towers and their serene faces, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas and the Terrace of the Leper King, then Ta Prohm, held in the grip of giant trees. In the afternoon, take your time at Angkor Wat itself. As the light softens, a tuk tuk carries you through the outskirts of town to a pagoda where monks offer a blessing for your journey.Overnight: Siem Reap · Meals: B, L

Follow a country road to Banteay Srei, a small 10th-century temple famous for its finely carved pink sandstone. Stop at Preah Dak village, known for rice noodles and palm sugar, then visit Banteay Samre, rich in reliefs from the Vishnu and Krishna legends. In the afternoon, drive about 18 km to Tonle Sap and board a private boat through a fishing village of floating homes, schools and shops that move with the level of the lake through the year.Overnight: Siem Reap · Meals: B, L

Drive about two hours through villages and rice fields to Beng Mealea, an 11th to 12th-century temple strangled by the jungle, where you climb over fallen blocks and peer into mossy galleries. Another hour brings you to Koh Ker, capital of Jayavarman IV in the 10th century. More than 30 major monuments lie scattered in the forest here, including a tall stepped pyramid, and some of the finest statues in the National Museum in Phnom Penh came from this site. Return to Siem Reap in the late afternoon.Overnight: Siem Reap · Meals: B, L

After breakfast, drive about three hours west to Battambang and check in at your hotel. In the afternoon, follow the Sangker River to Wat Slaket, the residence of the province's senior monk, and Wat Ek Phnom, an 11th-century temple beside a modern pagoda. Visit a market where prahok, the Cambodian fermented fish paste, is made. Back near town, end the day at Oudambong village with a ride on the bamboo train, a simple platform on rails that clatters through the fields.Overnight: Battambang · Meals: B, L

This morning drive to Phnom Banan, where five sandstone towers crown a hilltop above the plains; climb the stone stairway for one of the best views in western Cambodia. In the afternoon, visit Phnom Sampeau, a hill of legends topped by a pagoda and dotted with caves. Your guide explains the site's history from the Khmer Rouge years, and you also explore natural caves. If you wish, stay until dusk to watch millions of bats stream out of a cave in long ribbons across the sky.Overnight: Battambang · Meals: B, L

Today you travel southeast to Phnom Penh. Along the road, stop at a silversmith village, see clay pots shaped by hand in the pottery villages of Kampong Chhnang, and visit a local fish market on the Tonle Sap River. Arrive in the capital in the afternoon and check in at your hotel. The rest of the day is free to relax or wander the riverfront promenade, where locals gather in the evening to walk, exercise and eat.Overnight: Phnom Penh · Meals: B, L

Begin at the Royal Palace, the home of the King, and the Silver Pagoda, which holds a solid gold Buddha set with more than 2,000 diamonds. Continue to Wat Phnom, built in 1373 on the hill that gave the city its name. In the afternoon, your guide accompanies you to the Choeung Ek memorial and Tuol Sleng, the former school used as the S-21 prison, for a respectful look at the Khmer Rouge period. If time allows, finish at the Russian Market for silk and crafts.Overnight: Phnom Penh · Meals: B, L

Enjoy a relaxed breakfast and some free time this morning, perhaps for a coffee by the river or a last look around the Central Market. At the agreed time, your driver transfers you to Phnom Penh airport for your flight home or onward journey.Meals: B