One Week Backpacking Cambodia: Siem Reap and Phnom Penh
- margauxgathy6
- Apr 17
- 8 min read
Updated: May 31
I spent a week in Cambodia, covering Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. A lot of people visit the beaches in Koh Rong, but I was headed to the beach in Thailand, so didn’t add that to my itinerary. I thought Phnom Penh and Siem Reap provided the perfect experience of Cambodia, showed me all the history and highlights, and filled a week perfectly. This guide will show the best things to do in each place, where to stay, how to get around, and the best places to eat.
Contents
Logistics: Making Bookings and Moving Around
I arrived into Phnom Penh by bus from Vietnam, which is a very common thing to do. From Phnom Penh, the easiest way to book buses to Siem Reap and beyond is through your hostel. I did this a couple of days before the bus journey. You can easily book on 12Go Asia, but I found that booking through the hostel makes pickup much easier as the bus will come to the hostel to collect you. The hostel staff can also help you if something goes wrong with the booking, and it was slightly cheaper than online too.
The hostels in Cambodia were some of the nicest I’ve ever stayed in . Like much of South East Asia, you don’t need to book them much in advance, but if you want to make sure you’re in the best ones, you will need to secure a room about a week before you go.
Booking activities in advance is not necessary at all. I booked everything on the day or the day before, again through my hostel. They are really great at organising groups to go to the main attractions, and guides to places like Angkor Wat. I booked my sunrise Angkor Wat trip two days before I went, and that wasn’t a problem at all. Booking through the hostel also gives you the social aspect, and it was a lot of fun.
Phnom Penh
A lot of people skip Phnom Penh, but I really think it is worth a day to understand the history of Cambodia. I spent 2 nights there so that I could have one full day, and I was glad I made that decision.
Things to Do
There are two main museums to visit in Phnom Penh. My hostel grouped us and organised tuk tuks for everyone to go to both of these, and this was perfect as the drivers waited for us at each location. If you do both of these in one day, however, please be aware that it is a very emotionally intense day.
S-21 Genocide Museum
The S-21 Genocide Museum is located in the former Security Prison 21 of the Khmer Rouge, and explains the history of the genocide in Cambodia. It is an extremely harrowing place to visit, but so important to understand what happened.
Entry costs $10 (approx. £7.55) with an audio guide included, and $5 (approx. £3.77) without one. I highly recommend you get an audio guide as there isn’t much to read at all, and you wouldn’t really understand what you are looking at without one. It also gives you unique testimonies from people who lived through the genocide. You’ll need at least 2 hours there to fully experience everything.
Killing Fields
The Killing Fields is an outdoor museum of the genocide. While the visit is shorter, about 1.5 hours, it is equally as harrowing as the S-21 Genocide Museum. Again, I really recommend you take the audio guide. I preferred it to the first museum’s one as it has more history, background, and told more stories from survivors. The entry with the audio guide costs $6 (approx. £4.53).
Where to Stay
The best hostel in Phnom Penh is Onederz. It has a rooftop pool and bar/restaurant, and is perfectly located. The rooms and bathrooms are really nice, clean, and spacious, and pretty much everyone stays there, so it’s very social and easy to meet people.
Where to Eat: vegan friendly places
Most places in Cambodia have vegan-friendly food, but I tried these two during my visit and thought they were great:
Mama Kitchen Restaurant
David’s Restaurant Homemade Noodles
Siem Reap
Siem Reap was one of my favourite cities in South East Asia. There was so much to do, beyond Angkor Wat and the other temples. I stayed 4 nights, which was more than most people do, but I could have stayed longer to just enjoy the place.
Things to Do
Angkor Wat and the other temples
I booked a sunrise tour of Angkor Wat and the other temples in the complex through my hostel. It cost $15 (approx. £11.30) for the bus and guide, which was pretty much the going rate for a guided tour. I would recommend getting a guide as they not only tell you all about the temples you are looking at, but also know the best photo spots for the sunrise. You then have to pay $37 (approx. £27.90) for the one-day entrance ticket to Angkor Wat. You can get a three day pass for $62 (approx. £46.77), but that wasn’t worth it for me, as I only wanted to visit once.
We left the hostel around 4 am, and after getting tickets and the driving, we arrived at Angkor Wat around 5:30 am. Before the sunrise itself, we had time to walk around the grassy area and the reflection pool in front of the temple. We then walked back to get a full view for the sunrise. The sun is over the top of the centre tower of Angkor Wat on the equinox twice a year, so if you are interested in seeing this, make sure you plan your trip accordingly.
After the sunrise, we proceeded to get a tour of the Angkor complex, including going up the tower. Now is probably the time to say that as soon as the sun rose, it immediately became hot. It was 35 degrees celsius by 7am, so you can only imagine how bad it was by midday (42 degrees and humid). According to my guide, Cambodia has two temperatures: ‘hot’ and ‘very hot’. What I experienced in March was ‘hot’. Come prepared with plenty of water, electrolytes, and sun protection.
We drove from Angkor Wat to the Ta Prohm temple. This was my favourite. It is the one that featured in the movie Tomb Raider and inspired the game Temple Run. It had trees growing within it and was more in a dilapidated state, which, in my opinion, gave it more charm. It was quite a bit smaller than Angkor Wat but still very cool to explore.
The last temple was Bayon Temple and one of the gates to the complex. It was very impressive, but honestly at this point in the day it was almost too hot to enjoy.
We got an opportunity for breakfast, but I recommend bringing some snacks because the restaurant was quite expensive. And, I’ve already said this but: BRING WATER! 2 litres wasn’t enough for any of us.
Apopo Visitor Centre
The Apopo Visitor Centre was honestly the highlight of Cambodia for me. The Apopo organisation is incredible: it trains rats to sniff out the land mines left from the Vietnam War across the country to stop them blowing up. This is a huge issue, especially in rural areas, where land mines kill and injure thousands of people every year.
The Apopo Visitor Centre tells you about the training process and the work that the rats do, and they even treat you to a demonstration by a selected rat. You’ll also get a chance to hold one of them. They are treated incredibly well and it’s a pleasure to watch them be rewarded for the hard work that they do. You’ll also watch a movie about the organisation, which gets very emotional. Trust me, even if you hate rats, you will fall in love with these guys.
There is no need to book to visit the Centre, you can just walk in. They do tours every 30 minutes, and you pay $10 as a donation to the organisation. I really cannot recommend this enough.
Phare Circus
The Phare Circus is a non-profit circus school set up to help support economically disadvantaged people. They put on a circus every night which is really impressive. At 7pm, the children’s dance starts and there is an opportunity to buy dinner. At 7:30 pm the big top opens, and you’ll want to get in the queue as soon as possible if you booked a group B or C ticket. The cheapest ticket is $18 and you can buy them on the official website here: https://pharecircus.org/.
The show then starts at 8pm. It tells a story through circus acts, and it’s a lot of fun to watch. The best part is that the performers all seem to really enjoy themselves, and it’s generally a really happy event. I really recommend going to a show.
Where to Stay
Lub D hostel in Siem Reap is hands down one of the best hostels I’ve ever stayed at. It is modern and clean, has great air conditioning (this is very important in Cambodia!), and has a pool and a café with great food. It’s also very social - they put on so many events every day so there’s always an opportunity to meet people. I really had the best time here and cannot recommend it enough.
Where to Eat: vegan friendly places
The food in Siem Reap was amazing - so many incredible options. Here were a few of my favourites (alongside the Lub D Hostel food):
Khmer Taste: this place had vegetarian and vegan options of Cambodian dishes. It was relatively cheap food and really good.
Banlle Vegetarian: this place had amazing food! It looks so fancy from the outside but was actually very reasonably priced. There were great vegan and vegetarian takes on Cambodian food, as well as western food. Right next to it is a gelato place called Amami gelato that has loads of vegan options (not just sorbet!) and was so good.
Muffin Man: this place had an incredible social mission along with its great food. It specialises in muffins and cakes (vegan options were plentiful), but also had sandwiches, salads, and other savoury meals.
Wild: this is a slightly more expensive place to go for cocktails and spring rolls, and which also had a great social and environmental mission. They had great food hygiene and plenty of delicious veggie and vegan options.
Budget
My daily average in Cambodia was £45 per day, which included accommodation, local transport, activities, food, SIM card, and my visa. This was in a rushed itinerary, and if you go to the islands like Koh Rong, your average would drop. I packed lots of activities in per day, hence the higher spend. The visa to Cambodia is also expensive, so splitting this across only 7 days raised the daily spend significantly. However, Cambodia is generally more expensive than the other South East Asian countries. Hostels are generally between £5 and £8 per night, and food will range between £2 and £6 per meal.
Most places are cash only, but you can pay for Angkor Wat and some hostels with card. The Cambodian currency is difficult because sometimes prices are quoted in Riels, and sometimes in US Dollars. You might pay in US Dollars, because that’s what comes out of the ATMs, but they will give you change in Riels. Most places will have their exchange rate listed, but it still gets confusing. If you have US Dollars, beware that everyone is extremely picky when it comes to accepting notes. The notes have to be in pristine condition to be accepted, but many places will try and offload ‘less than perfect’ notes on you as change. Just be wary of this and use card when you can! And don’t end up with too many Riels! It’s a closed currency so you won’t be able to exchange it outside of Cambodia.
I loved Cambodia, especially Siem Reap. I hope this guide is useful for you in planning your trip. As always, tread lightly and only leave your footprints behind :)
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