A Week In Vietnam And Cambodia

Begin your tour with an early pickup from your hotel in an air-conditioned vehicle. Then, start your adventure by climbing the main entrance of Angkor Wat and admiring the stunning sunrise over the site and all the surrounding temples.

Visit the South Gate of Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom comprises the renowned Bayon and Baphoun temples, originally made up of 54 towers and 216 faces of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. During the visit, learn the historical facts about the Angkor Temples and the Khmer Empire, as well as all the main Angkor architectural elements, from your guide.

After lunch, pass by both the Terrace of Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King, known as the royal viewing platform and the stage of the king’s great audience hall. Next, head to Ta Prohm Temple, known as the "jungle temple" or "tree temple," referring to the lush trees surrounding the temple’s stones. Marvel at the gigantic roots of the trees embracing the ruins that have made it one of Angkor’s most popular temples. End your tour with a visit to Banteay Kdei, a temple built by King Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century. After your visit, get dropped off at your Siem Reap hotel.

Be picked up from your hotel, sit back, and relax on the way to Kulen Mountain, one of Cambodia’s most sacred mountains, with deeply revered ancient sites and ruins on its high plateau. Take in the scenic countryside as you pass by rice paddies, local markets, schools, villages, and Buddhist temples. Stop at Palm Sugar village, where they make palm sugar out of palm juice. Continue to the National Park, where you can get out to stretch your legs and snap pictures of the view. Explore the vast plateau of Phnom Kulen by walking through jungle trails, through vine-covered trees until you reach Kbal Spean. Admire an array of unique carvings in the riverbed. Visit a large stone Buddha carved into the top of a rock set in a bustling temple complex in Preah Ang Thom. Have a delicious lunch at a local restaurant. Take a refreshing swim at Kulen Waterfall before returning to your accommodation in Siem Reap.

Enjoying a delicious breakfast with a cup of coffee is the best way to start a new day. This morning, you will have the opportunity to leave the center of Siem Reap and go to the countryside to discover the beauty of a less-known floating village on Tonle Lake. Kampong Khleang floating village is 55 kilometers from Siem Reap. With 10,000 people, this is currently the largest floating village in the area. After the main highway, you turn onto the winding dirt road. Stop for the hot, sticky rice, and observe the local farmers working on their rice paddies. Upon arrival, you use a motor boat to explore Kampong Khleang along with two other floating villages and the great lake. Life on the lake is not pleasant and is always affected by harsh weather conditions. In the rainy season, the lake surface area usually expands six times while the depth increases nine times. That is why most houses have high floors and float on the lake in the rainy season. In the dry season, towering stilts are revealed, like wooden skyscrapers. During the boat ride, you will make stops to see where Bridge of Life works, visit a stilted home and see a Cambodian pagoda to learn more about local life. Your tour guide is happy to show you a small floating village known as the natural flood barrier in the area. You ride back to the harbor, see your driver, and return downtown for lunch. 

This afternoon, you are transferring to the airport, departing for Da Nang, a beautiful beach town in the center of Vietnam. Upon arrival, you receive a warm greeting from your local English-speaking guide. After 45 minutes of driving, you check into a hotel in downtown Hoi An. Overnight in Hoi An.

You start a new day with an orientation walk in Hoi An town. The walking tour will offer you a chance to visit: a private house where members of the same family have lived continuously for centuries in a traditional setting; the Sa Huynh Museum, which contains exhibitions from the earliest period of Hoi An's history; and the famous Japanese Covered Bridge Pagoda, the iconic symbol of Hoi An nowadays. The second part of this morning is learning how to make a colorful lantern. After getting the guide from your instructor, you will select from a wealth of different silks, craft a bamboo frame, and create your lantern, which will fold neatly into your luggage and be brought back home as a souvenir. Enjoy lunch before walking back to the hotel and spending the rest of the day by the swimming pool or beach. Overnight in Hoi An

Enjoy a beautiful morning in Hoi An by cycling along the Thu Bon River to visit a local finishing village. You ride leisurely along the country lanes, viewing local life with scenery of farmers working with their water buffalo in the fields. Peddle your way through palm forests, bridges, and pons; you will arrive in Cam Thanh Village. Take a short break with a local family before enjoying a 1-hour ride on a traditional wooden boat to explore the water coconut palm forest. While learning how to sail the basket boat, you also get a chance to relax by catching fish and purple crabs in the canal.

After saying goodbye to the Cam Thanh Villagers, you continue biking to another village. You stop at the organic vegetable village of Tra Que, where a large variety of vegetables are grown for the local community. There, you will see the environmentally sustainable practices, the local villagers have used for centuries and are still using extensively today. Visit Kum Quat restaurant, and join in a cooking class with Thành and his wife. Today, you will cook some traditional Hoi An foods, then sit down for a delicious lunch by yourself. Cycle back to the hotel, and relax by the swimming pool or at the beach. Overnight in Hoi An.

After breakfast and a leisurely morning on your own, you will check out by midday and your private driver will pick you up and take you to the Da Nang International Airport for your departure flight home.