Cambodia swings between two extremes: temple complexes you can lose days in, and places where nothing at all is expected of you. Around Angkor the choice is biggest, and booking ahead saves you the haggling at the gate. In Kampot and Battambang a tuk-tuk driver is standing next to you before your backpack hits the floor, and they sort it out just as well.
Siem Reap
Ten tours, but your first decision is not on this list: it is your temple pass, which comes in one, three and seven day versions. Only have one day? Do the small circuit, and that is exactly what the two Angkor tours here cover: Angkor Wat at sunrise, Bayon with its 216 stone faces, and Ta Prohm, where the trees grow straight through the walls. The difference between the small group and the private tuk-tuk comes down to one question: do you share your day, or plan it yourself? Phnom Kulen takes eight hours and lies in the other direction, so give it a day of its own. Kampong Phluk (six hours) is the floating village on Tonle Sap, where the houses stand on ten metre stilts and the water climbs to the floorboards in the rainy season. One evening free? Phare, the Cambodian circus, is the strongest pick of the two shows here. Staying longer, the Apsara show with dinner makes a great second night out. At the elephant sanctuary the rules are simple: watching from a distance is part of it, riding never is, and the word sanctuary on its own means nothing. Ask straight out whether you can ride them, and if the answer is yes, book somewhere else.
Siem Reap: Angkor Wat Small-Group Tour at Sunrise or Sunset
From Siem Reap: Kampong Phluk Floating Village Tour by Boat
Siem Reap: Phare, The Cambodian Circus Show Tickets
Siem Reap: Khmer Cooking Class in a Local Home
Siem Reap: Lotus Silk Farm and Lake Experience
Kulen Mountain: Small-Group Tour with Picnic Lunch
Siem Reap: Apsara Dance Show and Dinner with Hotel Pick-up
Siem Reap: Khmer Village and Fish Farm ATV Tour
Siem Reap: Angkor Wat Private Tuk-Tuk Tour
From Siem Reap: Elephant Sanctuary Experience with Transfers
Phnom Penh
The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng come as one four hour trip, and it will be the heaviest and most important morning of your whole time in Cambodia. Take the audio guide, it is excellent. Then plan nothing after it, because you carry it with you for the rest of the day. The two hour sunset cruise is the exact opposite: beer, a barbecue and the Mekong turning pink, for next to nothing. The Kun Khmer fights at the TV stadium and the Silk Island trip by bike, e-bike or tuk-tuk are there for when you have a day to spare.
Phnom Penh: The Killing Fields & Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Phnom Penh: Sunset Cruise with Unlimited Beer, Soft Drinks and BBQ Buffet
Phnom Penh: Watch Kun Khmer Fights with Mr. Sop at the TV Stadium
Phnom Penh: Silk Island Tour by Bike, E-bike or Tuk-tuk
Koh Rong
One trip, seven hours, and it does everything you get on a boat for: snorkelling, fishing, the sunset, and to finish, plankton that lights up with every move you make. That is why it deliberately runs until well after dark, and that is why people end up staying a night longer than they planned. The plankton shows up best around a new moon, so check the calendar before you pick your day. The rest of Koh Rong, like the jungle path to Long Beach, you do on your own two feet.
Koh Rong: Boat Trip with Snorkelling, Fishing, Sunset and Plankton
Kampot
Three trips that do not get in each other's way, and all three are good ones. The pepper farm with the salt fields (four hours) is about the thing Kampot is world famous for: chefs call this pepper the best there is, and you taste why on the spot. Bokor Mountain (five hours) climbs to an abandoned French hill station with a casino from 1925, often half in the clouds, and the road up is a reason to go all by itself. The Green Cathedral kayak trip takes three hours and is best at sunset: a tunnel of overhanging trees over the water, and on some trips the fireflies afterwards. Want all three? Give it two days.
Kampot: Pepper Farm, Plantation, Salt Fields and Secret Lake
Kampot: Bokor Mountain Classic or Sunset Tour
Kampot: Sunset Kayaking in the Green Cathedral
Battambang
One five hour trip, and the order is exactly right. First the bamboo train, a plank on wheels racing down an old railway line. Then the caves of Phnom Sampeau, where the history weighs more than the view: it is a memorial, so treat it like one. And you stay until the bats come out, because that is no side show: a ribbon of them pours out of the rock and keeps going for about twenty minutes. The French shopfronts and the murals in town are an easy walk afterwards.
